"How much does an online store cost?" It is the question every Swiss SME asks before launching into e-commerce. And the honest answer is frustrating: anywhere from CHF 3,000 to over CHF 80,000 in the first year, depending on the solution you choose and the scale of the project. That huge gap becomes easy to understand once you break the costs down item by item.
In this guide, we review the three main options available in 2026 — Shopify, WooCommerce and custom development — with real figures in Swiss francs: setup, subscriptions, payment fees, maintenance and the total budget for the first year. The goal: help you choose with full knowledge of the facts, with no nasty surprises when the invoice arrives.
Why Do Prices Vary So Much?
Before comparing solutions, understand what drives the bill up. Five factors carry the most weight:
- The number of products: selling 20 items or 2,000 does not require the same amount of structuring, photography and product-page work.
- The design: a customised existing theme costs 5 to 10 times less than an interface designed from scratch.
- Integrations: connecting a POS system, an ERP, a Swiss invoicing tool or a carrier (Swiss Post, DPD) quickly adds thousands of francs.
- Multilingual content: in Switzerland, an FR/DE/EN store is often essential, and every additional language increases the content budget.
- Logistics: shipping-cost calculation, click and collect, real-time stock management — every automation has its price.
Shopify: The Turnkey Solution
In 2026, Shopify remains the fastest platform for opening a professional store. Everything is hosted, secured and updated automatically. In exchange, you pay a lifelong subscription and fees on every sale.
Shopify Costs in Detail
- Subscription: Basic plan around CHF 29/month (billed annually), Grow plan around CHF 79/month, Advanced plan close to CHF 299/month. For an SME just starting out, the Basic plan is more than enough.
- Theme: free for basic templates, CHF 150 to 350 as a one-time purchase for a more polished premium theme.
- Apps: expect CHF 30 to 150/month for the usual extensions (customer reviews, translation, invoicing aligned with Swiss practices).
- Payment fees: with Shopify Payments, roughly 2.1% to 2.9% + CHF 0.30 per transaction depending on the plan. If you use an external provider, Shopify adds an extra commission of 0.5% to 2%.
- Agency setup: between CHF 2,500 and 8,000 for a well-configured store — customised design, optimised product pages, tested checkout funnel, Twint and credit-card integration.
First-year Shopify budget: from CHF 4,000 (simple launch) to CHF 10,000 (polished store with agency support), excluding marketing.
WooCommerce: The Flexibility of WordPress
WooCommerce turns a WordPress site into an online store. The licence is free, but "free" does not mean "cost-free": hosting, extensions, security and maintenance are all on you.
WooCommerce Costs in Detail
- Hosting: CHF 100 to 400/year for quality hosting able to handle traffic spikes. A Swiss host also reassures your customers about data protection.
- Theme and extensions: CHF 200 to 600/year for a premium theme and the essential plugins (payments, Swiss VAT, Swiss Post shipping rates, backups).
- Payment fees: Stripe charges around 2.9% + CHF 0.30 per transaction; Twint and PostFinance have their own pricing. No extra platform commission, unlike Shopify.
- Agency setup: between CHF 3,500 and 12,000 depending on the level of customisation, the number of products and the integrations.
- Maintenance: CHF 1,000 to 3,000/year for updates, security and backups. It is the item SMEs underestimate the most — and the one that prevents unpleasant surprises.
First-year WooCommerce budget: from CHF 5,000 to 15,000. More expensive than Shopify at the start, but lower recurring costs and total freedom in the long run, especially for organic search.
Custom Development: For Genuinely Complex Needs
Custom development is justified when no standard platform covers your needs: a complex product configurator, synchronisation with an industry ERP, a multi-vendor marketplace, B2B pricing logic with negotiated contracts.
- Build: from CHF 25,000 to 80,000 and beyond, depending on functional complexity and the number of integrations.
- Maintenance and evolutions: CHF 5,000 to 15,000/year, because every fix and every new feature goes through developers.
- Timeline: expect 3 to 9 months of project work, versus 4 to 8 weeks for Shopify or WooCommerce.
Our advice is clear: for 95% of SMEs, custom development is a poor first choice. Validate your market with a standard platform first, then invest in specific development once your revenue justifies it.
The Costs Everyone Forgets
Payment Fees Add Up Fast
At 2.9% + CHF 0.30 per transaction, a store processing CHF 100,000/year pays roughly CHF 3,200 in payment fees. That is not a detail: build it into your margins from day one, and offer Twint, which has become essential in Switzerland.
Content and Photography
Professional product photos (CHF 50 to 150 per product with a photographer) and well-crafted descriptions make the difference between a store that converts and a dead showcase. Budget CHF 1,000 to 3,000 for a starting catalogue.
Marketing: No Visibility, No Sales
A store without traffic sells nothing. Plan an acquisition budget from launch: Google Ads campaigns, social media advertising and SEO services in Geneva to build a sustainable flow of visitors. Expect at least CHF 500 to 1,500/month for the first six months.
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Total First-Year Budget: Three Costed Scenarios
To make things concrete, here are three typical profiles of Swiss stores and their realistic first-year budget, marketing included:
- The smart launch — around CHF 6,000 to 9,000: Shopify store configured by an agency (CHF 3,000), subscription and apps (CHF 700/year), photos and content (CHF 1,000), launch marketing (CHF 2,000 to 4,000). Ideal for testing a market.
- The established SME — around CHF 12,000 to 20,000: customised WooCommerce store (CHF 6,000 to 10,000), hosting and maintenance (CHF 1,500/year), multilingual content (CHF 2,000), ongoing acquisition (CHF 500 to 800/month). The best control-to-cost ratio over time.
- The ambitious project — CHF 50,000 and up: a custom platform with ERP integrations, automated logistics and a substantial marketing budget. Reserved for companies whose business model is built on e-commerce.
These ranges reflect what we actually observe in the Swiss market. An offer far below them usually hides deferred costs: no maintenance, an unpersonalised theme, zero conversion optimisation. To compare concrete offers, request a free, transparent quote — every item is detailed with no hidden fees.
Five Tips to Keep Your Budget Under Control
- Start small, but start clean: 30 well-presented products beat 300 sloppy pages.
- Demand an itemised quote: setup, licences, hosting, maintenance, training. Whatever is not written down will end up as an extra.
- Budget for maintenance from day one: an unmaintained store becomes a security risk and a sales blocker in less than a year.
- Reserve 30% of the budget for marketing: the most beautiful store in the world sells nothing without visitors.
- Think total cost over three years, not just the setup price: subscriptions, commissions and maintenance completely change the ranking of solutions.
Key Takeaways
In 2026, a professional online store in Switzerland costs between CHF 4,000 and 10,000 in the first year with Shopify, between CHF 5,000 and 15,000 with WooCommerce, and CHF 50,000 or more for a custom build. The right choice depends on your catalogue, your integrations and your ambitions — not on the trend of the moment.
At Digital Swiss Agency, we support Swiss SMEs from strategy to launch, with stores designed to sell from the very first month. Tell us about your project: our team specialising in website creation in Geneva will send you a clear estimate and a concrete action plan within 48 hours.
