How much should you pay for E-Commerce Development in Ireland

 

If you are in Ireland, and planning to create an e-commerce platform/online store, or, if you are looking for an Irish digital agency to create an e-commerce platform for your business, then you are on the right website. 

But, before inquiring one or more companies for their services, you might want to know the prices to expect for e-commerce development services. And you are right to learn about this, as budget is a deciding factor, often, when it comes to going digital with your business. 

First things first - to make sure we are on the same page, let’s define E-commerce website/platform or, online shop. 

What is an E-commerce and what options do you have

An e-commerce platform is an online store where businesses sell their products or services.

If you’re looking to create an online shop or use an e-commerce platform, you have several great options depending on your budget, technical skills, and business needs. For example, if you are a beginner and want a small online shop with little expenses, you can start your online store on Shopify. Wix e-commerce, Squarespace, and BigCommerce are also good options. 

More advanced e-commerce platforms, that offer you more control but require more technical knowledge and effort to build are WooCommerce, Magento, or OpenCart. These options we recommend for larger businesses, or those who want to scale/upgrade their platform from a beginner to a more professional solution. 

There are also marketplaces, you definitely heard about - such as Amazon, eBay, or Etsy. These options don’t require a place of your own to sell, but they will charge you for selling your items on their platforms, and to their audiences. 

Enterprise e-commerce solutions, such as Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and SAP Commerce Cloud are great for large catalogs of products. 

Last option - are Ecommerce as a Service, where you can separate the front-end (what users see) from the back-end (payment, inventory).For this you can use Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Headless among other options.
 

For your convenience, we’ve put everything in a table:

 

What you should know about e-commerce in Ireland

According to ECDB Ireland's e-commerce market is expected to reach $7.4 billion in 2024 and $9.8 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% from 2024-2028​. The same source states that hobbies and leisure account for 24.6% of the e-commerce revenue in Ireland, followed by electronics (21.7%) and fashion (18.6%)​.

 

Social commerce through platforms like Instagram plays a major role, especially in fashion, as customers increasingly engage with brands and shop directly through social media links. 

Key players in the Irish market include Amazon.co.uk, Tesco Ireland, and Argos. Amazon alone generated $366.2 million in net sales in 2023​. 

 

GDPR compliance is very important for platforms handling customer data. Cross-border sales require careful planning due to Brexit-related challenges and new EU VAT regulations, which affect logistics and tax structures.

E-Commerce Development Prices in Ireland.

Now that you know this, let’s get down to prices, and consequently, to the main question - How much should you pay for an E-commerce platform in Ireland? 

To answer this question, we’ll have to explore hourly rates agencies usually charge per solution. Let’s start with Shopify, which is one of the most popular e-commerce solutions worldwide, not only in Ireland. 

 

So, just as the chart above shows, only 10% of Irish-based agencies charge below $30/hour for establishing an e-commerce presence on Shopify. Half of the existing Irish agencies specialized in Shopify, charge between $30-70/hour. And 40% of Irish agencies charge between $70-150 per hour. The average hourly rate for Shopify services in Ireland is $70.5

Magento, another solution for e-commerce development, is more expensive than Shopify, in Ireland. However, as we mentioned above, it offers more freedom, allowing you to own the platform fully and manage it as you please. 

There are no Irish agencies charging below $30/h for Magento, and 50% of the rates are between $30-70/hour, and the other 50% of agencies charge between $70-150 per hour. Therefore, the average hourly rate for Magento in Ireland is $80

Next in the line is WooCommece. Here are the hourly rates for it:

• 9.09% of agencies charge below $30/hour

• 36.36% of agencies charge between $30-70/hour

• 54.54% of agencies charge between $70-150 per hour

 

On average, WooCommerce in Ireland is rated at $79.54/hour which is almost as much as Magento’s hourly rate.

Moving to the e-commerce corporate sector in Ireland, for SAP Commerce services have similar hourly rates as Magento. 50% of the rates are between $30-70/hour, and the other 50% of agencies charge between $70-150 per hour. Therefore, the average hourly rate for SAP Commerce in Ireland is $80

Now, if we take all the analyzed e-commerce solutions, and compare their average hourly rates, we can notice that Shopify is the most affordable, while Magento and SAP Commerce are at the other end of the chart. However, even if hourly rates are pretty much in the same range, corporate e-commerce would take more time to develop compared to Shopify e-commerce. In the end, the complexity decides how much time it would take to develop.