Shopify or custom – we tell you
Under a few hundred products with standard checkout: Shopify. Configurators, B2B pricing, your own logistics: custom.
E-commerce
Get your online shop built
A shop that loads fast, meets German consumer law out of the box and does not eat your margin in platform fees – Shopify where it fits, a custom build where it pays off, from a studio that tells you which before you spend a euro.
German law built in
Button solution, Widerrufsbelehrung, VAT and shipping in the price display, consent – included, not an add-on.
A fixed quote after a call
Shopify setup or a custom shop – what yours costs depends on platform and catalogue, and is settled after a short call.
Shopify, WooCommerce or a custom shop?
Three honest options. Shopify is the fastest path for most small catalogues: hosting, checkout, payments and tax are solved, and we design it to look like you rather than like a theme. WooCommerce puts a shop into WordPress – flexible, cheap in licences, expensive in maintenance and plugin risk. A custom shop (Django) is for the cases the others cannot do cleanly: configurable products, B2B price lists, your own fulfilment, or a shop that is part of an existing web app.
| Option | Build cost | Monthly | Flexibility | Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify (with custom design) | on request | €30–100 + payment fees | Good for standard products | Low – the platform updates itself |
| WooCommerce | €5,000–12,000 | Hosting + plugin licences | High, via plugins | High – updates, security, plugin conflicts |
| Custom shop (Django) | fixed price by scope | Hosting only | Unlimited | Medium – yours, no platform dependency |
We say which fits on the first call, and we do not sell a custom build to a business that needs Shopify.
Having an online shop built: what it costs
A Shopify shop with custom design covers design, structure, product import, payments and shipping setup, legal texts placed, and the launch; a custom-built shop correspondingly more. Both come as a fixed quote after a short call. On top come the platform or hosting fees and the payment provider's charges (typically 1.5–3 % per transaction). The website costs page lists all our ranges side by side.
What you need before you start – a checklist
Products with photos and short texts (or a plan to create them), your prices including VAT, a shipping and returns concept, the legal texts – Impressum, Widerrufsbelehrung, AGB, Datenschutzerklärung – from a lawyer or a service such as IT-Recht Kanzlei or Händlerbund, a payment provider account (PayPal, Stripe, Klarna, SEPA), and a decision on who packs the parcels. None of this has to be finished on day one; all of it has to exist before launch, and we walk you through the list.
What to watch out for: product photos that are too small, prices without shipping, a returns policy nobody has written, and a shop that has never been tested on a phone with a real order.
Legally compliant in Germany and Switzerland
Button solution ("zahlungspflichtig bestellen"), Widerrufsbelehrung, prices with VAT and shipping, the Impressum, cookie consent, and the payment methods your customers actually use. For Swiss customers: CHF pricing, Swiss legal notice rules, and shipping and customs texts that say what really happens at the border. Boring, essential, included.
Process
Platform decision on the first call. Design in your browser within a week. Product structure and import, payments, shipping and tax setup, legal texts placed. A test order end to end on a real phone. Launch, and a hand-over training so you can add products yourself. Six to ten weeks for most shops.
After launch
Speed sells: every 100 ms of load time costs conversions, so the shop ships with optimised images, a lean theme and a performance budget, and product pages stay fast on a 4G phone. The SEO foundation – structured product data, sitemap, titles – is included; ongoing ads or content marketing we hand to partners. If your shop grows into an app with customer accounts and B2B logic, the web app page describes that path; if you just need a company site alongside it, the website page does.
Shop projects include
- Platform recommendation (Shopify vs custom)
- Design that matches your brand
- Product import and structure
- Payments, shipping, tax setup for DE/EU
- Legal texts placement and consent
- Launch and a hand-over training
Frequently asked questions
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What does an online shop cost?
- That depends on platform and catalogue: a Shopify shop with custom design is considerably cheaper than a custom build; you get a fixed quote after a short call. Plus platform or hosting fees and payment-provider charges.
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Shopify or my own shop?
- Shopify for standard products and a standard checkout – fastest and cheapest to run. A custom shop when you need configurators, B2B pricing, your own logistics or a shop inside an existing app. We tell you which on the first call.
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Can you migrate my existing shop?
- Yes: products, customers and order history, with URL redirects so your Google rankings survive the move.
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Do you write the legal texts?
- No – we place and integrate them correctly. For the texts themselves we recommend a lawyer or a service like IT-Recht Kanzlei or Händlerbund.
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Which payment and shipping options do you set up?
- PayPal, Stripe (cards), Klarna and SEPA on the payment side; DHL, DPD and Hermes rates or your own on the shipping side – whatever your customers actually use.
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Do you handle marketing too?
- The SEO foundation, structured product data and analytics are included. Ongoing ads or content marketing we hand to partners we trust.
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How long does it take?
- Six to ten weeks for most shops, from the first call to the first real order – provided the products, photos and legal texts arrive on time.