How long a webshop takes to build: 6 to 12 weeks, and why
A webshop that takes payment on your own site takes 6 to 12 weeks to build. That is a step 04 build at EUR 3.500 to EUR 7.500, and where your shop lands inside those weeks depends on the catalogue, the shipping rules, what the shop has to connect to, and how quickly the content and decisions that only you can supply arrive.
If buyers can order by getting in touch, with you sending the invoice afterwards, you do not need checkout yet. That catalogue is a step 03 business website, 3 to 6 weeks at EUR 1.500 to EUR 3.500. Checkout is the line between the two timelines, and the whole ladder is on packages.
Why checkout adds weeks
A shop has to handle money correctly every time, and that work does not show on the finished page. Each order must exist exactly once. Stock must drop when an item sells. You and the buyer both need a confirmation. The tax rate must match where the buyer is. A refund must work without anyone editing the database by hand.
Then there is everything that goes wrong: a declined card, a buyer who closes the tab while the payment is still processing, a confirmation the provider sends twice. Every one of those gets built and tested. Before launch, orders go through the whole checkout in test mode, failures included, and that testing is part of the timeline rather than something squeezed in at the end.
What puts your shop near 6 weeks or near 12
| What it depends on | Nearer 6 weeks | Nearer 12 weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Products | A short list, one price per item | Sizes, colours or bundles, with stock counted per variant |
| Product content | Photos and descriptions ready when the build starts | Written or photographed while the build runs |
| Shipping | One country, one flat rate or pickup | Zones, weight bands, a carrier account |
| Connections | Products managed in the shop's own CMS | An existing stock or accounting system connected by API |
| Design | Built on a brand you already have | A shop design drawn from scratch |
| Languages | One | Several, each with its own product text |
| Approvals | One person signs off each stage | A group has to agree each stage |
| Scope | Fixed at the quote | Features added during the build |
No shop sits entirely in one column. The table is there so you can see which of your own choices push the date out, and decide whether each one is worth it at launch or can wait.
The part that waits on you
Three things sit outside our hands and inside your launch date.
- Product photos and descriptions, plus prices, and weights if shipping is calculated by weight. The build can finish with placeholders in it, but the shop cannot open with them, so start writing while the design is being approved.
- Your payment provider account. The provider checks your business before money can reach your bank account, and it asks for documents only you hold. Open the account when the project starts, not near the end.
- Legal text: terms of sale, a privacy statement, and the returns and withdrawal information EU consumer law requires for online sales. We build the pages, and the wording comes from you or your lawyer.
How the build runs, in order
Scoping comes first: what you sell, how you want to be paid, where you ship, what has to exist on launch day and what can follow. A fixed quote follows scoping. After that comes design, then the build, then your content goes in, then a full run through checkout in test mode, then launch. For step 04 that sequence takes 6 to 12 weeks.
Design and build overlap, because a shop's design depends on its real product data. A product page for an item with one price is a different page from one with a size and colour picker, and designing against real data avoids drawing it twice. How that works is on design and engineering, and the shop itself is built in Next.js, covered on our Next.js development page.
You own the result: the code, the repository and the database, including your customer and order data. Hosting is agreed per project, and the studio can host.
What shortens it
- Launch with the products that are ready. The CMS lets you add the rest yourself once the shop is open.
- Start with one country and one shipping rule. Zones and carriers can follow once you see where orders actually come from.
- Keep customer accounts, reviews, a CRM connection and a chatbot for a second phase. Added later, accounts are an add-on at EUR 1.500 to EUR 4.000, a CRM connection EUR 750 to EUR 2.500 and a chatbot EUR 750 to EUR 2.000, with the quote confirming the scope.
- Send product data as one clean spreadsheet, one row per variant. Importing a spreadsheet is quick; retyping a catalogue by hand is slow for everyone.
- Name one person who approves design and content, and agree how feedback comes back before the build starts.
When to spend less
If nobody has bought from you yet, a shop is the wrong first build. A step 01 single-page landing takes 1 to 2 weeks at EUR 600 to EUR 900, with a form and analytics. Describe the product properly, take the first orders by hand, and find out whether people want it before you pay for checkout.
If you sell a short list to people who already know you, a step 02 mini-site in 2 to 3 weeks at EUR 900 to EUR 1.500 gives you 2 to 3 pages and a contact flow, and that is enough.
And if your catalogue is ordinary and a template suits you, a hosted shop platform you set up yourself will be selling before any custom build could be. In that case, do not hire us yet. Come back when the shop needs something the template cannot do.
Questions buyers ask
Can you build my shop in less than 6 weeks?
A shop that takes payment on your site is step 04, and 6 to 12 weeks is the honest range. If you need to be online sooner, a step 03 catalogue with a contact or booking flow takes 3 to 6 weeks. Adding checkout to it later is the payments add-on, EUR 600 to EUR 1.500, and the quote confirms the scope.
Can I open before every product is online?
Yes, and it is one of the simplest ways to hold a launch date. Open with the products that have photos and descriptions, then add the rest through the CMS yourself. The design needs enough real products to be tested against, not the whole catalogue.
What happens if I add features during the build?
The quote is fixed on the scope agreed during scoping. A new feature gets its own price and its own time, and you see both before it is built. Keeping a list of ideas for after launch is the easiest way to protect your date.
Who owns the shop and the customer data?
You do. The code, the repository and the database, where customer and order data live, are yours. Hosting is agreed per project: the studio can host, and the arrangement is settled during scoping.
What continues after launch?
Care and SEO can, if you want them. Care is EUR 100 to EUR 300 per month for updates, monitoring, backups and small fixes, and it does not cover redesigns or new features. SEO growth is EUR 500 to EUR 800 per month for technical and on-page work, service and location pages, internal links and reporting. SEO foundation is separate: a one-off at EUR 450 to EUR 750, worth doing around launch if buyers need to find the shop in search.
Tell us what you sell, where you ship and when you want to open, and we will tell you which step that is and where in its timeline your shop is likely to land. Start with a scoping conversation.
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JP Studio designs and builds websites, storefronts and product interfaces.