Shopify E-commerce Site Construction Costs Explained: Market Rates, Pricing Plans, and How to Choose a Production Company

You want to launch a full-fledged e-commerce site with Shopify or revamp an existing one. When you consider this, the first hurdle is often the lack of clarity regarding "how much it will ultimately cost."

There are multiple pricing plans, and quotes from development companies can vary widely. Therefore, understanding the cost breakdown and market rates, and choosing a construction method that fits your company's scale and objectives, is the shortest path to avoiding wasted initial investment.

This article will sequentially organize everything from the overall picture of construction costs, details of pricing plans, market rates for self-building, freelancers, and development companies, to selecting a partner to avoid failure. We have also prepared a quick reference to determine your company's cost zone with three questions, so please use it as a guide to grasp your budget.

Overall Picture of Costs for Building an E-commerce Site Using Shopify

The cost of building a Shopify e-commerce site largely depends on whether you "build it yourself" or "entrust it to a development company." Furthermore, costs are divided into two types: "initial costs," paid once at launch, and "running costs," incurred monthly as long as the site operates. Grasping this overall picture is the starting point for a regret-free process.

Two Construction Methods: Self-Building vs. Entrusting a Development Company

In addition to these two, entrusting a freelancer has also become common in recent years. We will look at the market rates for each of the three categories in detail in Section 3.

Breakdown of Initial and Running Costs

Building and operating an e-commerce site incurs initial and running costs. The amount fluctuates depending on the site's scale, features, and design.

If you judge based only on initial costs, you might be surprised by the monthly costs once operations begin. Separate the launch costs and monthly fixed costs in your estimate, and plan based on the "annual cost" by summing both.

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Shopify Pricing Plans and Fees

Shopify offers pricing plans that can be selected according to business scale.

Comparing Plans

The main plans are Basic for small businesses, Grow for growing businesses, and Advanced for large-scale/international businesses. The table below summarizes the differences in monthly fees and payment processing rates.

*The above fees are as of June 2026. Please check the official Shopify website for the latest information.
*The payment processing fees in the table are for using Shopify Payments. If you use external payment providers, an additional transaction fee will be added to Shopify.
*Please also refer to "How to Choose a Shopify Pricing Plan by Monthly Sales: Quick Reference for the Cheapest Plan Based on Break-Even Point," which compares the cheapest plans by monthly sales based on the total of monthly fees and payment processing fees.

Shopify Plus for Large-Scale Businesses

Shopify Plus is an enterprise plan for businesses with annual sales of several hundred million yen, or companies operating multiple brands, engaging in B2B (wholesale) sales, or expanding overseas. It is available from ¥368,000/month (global version from $2,300/month) and offers advanced customization, dedicated support, unlimited staff accounts (user additions), and other features necessary for large-scale operations. A detailed simulation of payment processing fees by annual sales is explained in "What are the costs of Shopify Plus? A simulation of payment processing fees by annual sales." (As of June 2026. Please check the official Shopify website for the latest information.)

Source: https://www.shopify.com/jp/pricing

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Cost Benchmarks by Construction Method

When choosing a construction method, it's important to consider not only initial costs and monthly fees, but also whether it aligns with your company's business phase and operational structure.

If you have design or coding expertise in-house, you can reduce costs by building it yourself or utilizing freelancers. On the other hand, if speed, quality, and long-term operational support are priorities, entrusting a development company can often be more cost-effective in the long run.

The optimal solution also varies depending on the site's scale, the number of products handled, and plans for future feature expansion. Some companies adopt a two-stage plan: launching at a low cost during the small-scale phase and transitioning to a development company as the business expands. Let's now look at the market rates for self-building, freelancers, and development companies in three categories.

Cost Benchmark for Self-Building

When building a Shopify e-commerce site in-house, initial costs can be kept down to roughly the cost of purchasing a paid theme (approximately ¥20,000 to ¥40,000). Running costs, combining the Shopify plan fee and monthly fees for paid apps (several thousand to tens of thousands of yen), are typically around ¥10,000 to ¥50,000 per month.

It's important to note that customizing designs and features requires a certain level of knowledge and time. The actual cost varies depending on how much effort the person in charge can dedicate, so please judge based on the total cost, including personnel expenses.

Cost Benchmark for Entrusting a Freelancer

Entrusting a freelancer falls between self-building and hiring a development company. For basic customization and design adjustments based on templates, the cost is approximately ¥200,000 to ¥800,000. The advantage is that labor costs can be kept lower than with a development company, and direct communication can lead to faster progress.

However, the scope of work a freelancer can handle depends on their individual skills, and delivery times can be unpredictable depending on their availability. Key points to confirm before making a request are summarized in "Before Requesting E-commerce Site Construction on Shopify from a Freelancer."

Cost Benchmark for Entrusting a Development Company

When entrusting a development company, the cost can vary widely depending on the site's scale and the features to be implemented. For small-scale sites based on templates, it starts from around ¥500,000 to ¥1,500,000. For medium-scale sites with original designs and unique features, it's around ¥2,000,000 to ¥5,000,000. For large-scale sites requiring full customization or handling a large number of products, it starts from ¥5,000,000.

Be aware that annual additional costs may arise if post-delivery operational support or maintenance contracts are included. When considering long-term stable operation, utilizing an external partner often offers a better cost-performance ratio than simply comparing short-term construction costs.

Cost variations based on site scale

*The estimated number of products and estimated annual sales are for reference only. The optimal construction scale and plan vary depending on the required functions and operational structure.
*The cost benchmark is an estimate of the construction (initial) costs. Monthly platform fees for Shopify Plus, etc., will be incurred separately.

Differences in costs depending on the scope of work requested

The amounts above are merely estimates. The final quote will vary depending on the degree of design intricacy, the amount of product registration and data migration work, and the presence or absence of unique app development, among other factors related to the scope of work requested.

Cost Zone Estimate with 3 Questions

You can get a rough idea of which cost zone your company falls into by answering the following three questions. Please answer them in order.

• Q1. Do you have a staff member in-house who can handle Liquid (Shopify's proprietary theme language) or coding?
• Q2. Is the number of products you handle closer to tens, hundreds, or thousands or more?
• Q3. Is an original design essential? Or is template modification sufficient? Even with a small number of products, if an original design is needed to emphasize brand identity, it's safer to plan for a medium or larger scale.

Based on the combination of your answers, the approximate landing points can be organized as follows:

• Q1=Yes / Q2=Tens of items / Q3=Template modification is sufficient → Self-build zone (initial costs mainly paid theme fees + running costs). This scope can be handled by in-house resources.
• Q1=No / Q2=Tens of items / Q3=Mainly template modification → Small-scale zone. Freelancers (estimated ¥200,000 to ¥800,000) or small-scale construction by a development company (¥500,000 to ¥1,500,000) are options.
• Q2=Hundreds of items / Q3=Original design is essential → Medium-scale zone (¥2,000,000 to ¥5,000,000). This involves unique features and a focus on the purchase experience.
• Q2=Thousands of items or more / External system integration or B2B is required → Large-scale zone (¥5,000,000 and up, consider Shopify Plus). This is in the realm of full customization.

If even one of the three questions leads to "hundreds of items or more" or "original design essential," it's advisable to budget for the next higher zone to avoid unexpected additional costs later.

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How to Choose a Development Company to Avoid Failure in Shopify Construction

Whether you can build a high-quality e-commerce site at an appropriate cost largely depends on choosing the right development company as your partner. Let's specifically confirm their track record, technical capabilities, and support system during the negotiation. Criteria for each aspect are also detailed in "How to Choose a Shopify Development Company: Cost Benchmarks and 7 Criteria to Avoid Failure."

Does it have a wealth of Shopify-related achievements?

First, check their official website and public case studies. Look not just for "has built before," but for how they addressed specific challenges and how they solved them.

However, not all case studies will include sales figures or conversion rates. This is because results might still be pending immediately after launch, or confidentiality agreements (NDAs) might prevent them from disclosing the details of their methods.

Therefore, during negotiations, you should ask questions such as:

• Can you show me one example of a build in an industry/product similar to ours?
• What has been the scale (number of products, annual sales range) of the sites you've handled so far?
• Do you have more experience with migration projects or new builds?

By extracting their strengths from both public and non-public achievements, you can better determine if they are a suitable partner for your company.

Is its technical capability and expertise high?

Confirm if they deeply understand Shopify's structure and can handle theme customization with Liquid (Shopify's proprietary theme language), external integration using APIs (mechanisms for linking with external services), and unique app development. Knowledge of display speed improvement and UI/UX (site appearance and usability) design is also crucial as it impacts conversion rates.

Technical capability is hard to gauge with abstract questions, so it's best to ask to see the implementation details. During negotiations, try asking:

• Can you show me an example of a project where you implemented a custom Liquid section?
• Do you have any cases where display speed improvements actually led to numerical growth?
• To what extent can you handle API integration with external systems in-house?

Conversely, if you see any of the following signs, take a step back and reconsider:

• They say "we can do anything" without specifying their areas of expertise (meaning their strengths are unclear).
• They cannot show concrete implementation screens or code examples.
• They suddenly resort to abstract theories when discussing display speed or SEO.

Is its post-construction support system well-established?

An e-commerce site truly begins after it's launched. Look for a system that provides continuous support tailored to business growth, including post-launch modifications, feature additions, and marketing assistance. The key differentiator is whether they offer proactive suggestions based on your business phase, not just troubleshooting.

With maintenance contracts, if "what's included in the contract" remains ambiguous, it can lead to unexpected additional costs later. Confirm the scope verbally before signing the contract.

• What is the boundary between tasks included in the maintenance contract and those that require a separate estimate?
• What are the emergency contact points, response times, and communication methods (phone, email, chat)?
• Does the support include regular reporting and improvement proposals?

What you want to avoid is a quote that simply states "responds for ◯ yen per month" without itemizing the scope of maintenance work. The more ambiguous the scope, the more likely you are to have disputes over additional charges later.

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Strengths of SOLSTAR Inc.

Based on the selection criteria discussed so far, if you are looking for a cost-effective construction and operation partner regardless of scale, SOLSTAR Inc. is one option to consider.

High Expertise Backed by Extensive Experience

SOLSTAR has undertaken the construction and operation of large-scale e-commerce sites with development costs exceeding ¥1 billion and Shopify Plus sites with annual sales of over ¥6 billion. We have a proven track record, especially in cross-border e-commerce construction and long-term support. We also hold three Shopify Academy certifications (development, operation, and B2B sales strategy).

Technical Capability and Proposal Power to Accelerate Business Growth

We achieve intuitive UI/UX with React and Vue (widely used technologies in modern web development) and support Liquid theme customization and unique feature development. We also excel in display speed optimization, SEO measures, and operation in cloud environments such as AWS and GCP.

Accompaniment-Style Support Aligned with Business Needs

SOLSTAR values "accompaniment-style" support, prioritizing the success of our clients' businesses rather than just finishing the build. We aim to be a partner that supports business growth with a long-term perspective.

Start with a Free Consultation

If you wish to know what can be achieved with your company's e-commerce site and how much it might cost, please feel free to contact us through this page. By sharing your current challenges and future prospects, we can propose more concrete solutions.

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Summary

The cost of building a Shopify site varies greatly depending on the scale and features of the site you aim for, as well as the construction method. For self-building, it can be from tens of thousands of yen; for freelancers, around ¥200,000 to ¥800,000; and for development companies, the benchmark is ¥500,000 to ¥1,500,000 for small-scale, ¥2,000,000 to ¥5,000,000 for medium-scale, and ¥5,000,000 and up for large-scale. If you are serious about growing your e-commerce business, plan not only for initial costs but also for operations and future expansion.

To realize your plan, a reliable partner who understands your business, possesses technical expertise, and can provide long-term support is crucial. Use the three questions in this article to estimate your cost zone, and during negotiations, ask specific questions to assess the partner's capabilities to find the right construction method and partner for your company.