Custom ecommerce

A custom online store is an ecommerce system whose order flow, pricing and integrations are built around a specific business model. It differs from an off-the-shelf platform in that the trading rules are written in code rather than worked around with plugins.

Where an off-the-shelf platform runs out

A standard store works well for a simple model: product, basket, payment, delivery. The limits show once the business has rules of its own:

• The price depends on the customer's contract, not on a general price list.
• The product is configured from parts that constrain each other.
• An order has to go through approval before it is confirmed.
• Stock comes from production or from several warehouses at once.
• The buyer is a company that needs deferred payment and an invoice.

Integrations that do the work

• Accounting: invoices and payments flow automatically, with no manual entry.
• Warehouse and ERP: real-time stock levels and reservations, so you never sell what you do not have.
• Couriers: shipments, labels and tracking numbers from one place.
• Payments: banks, cards, deferred payments for B2B customers.

Choosing the platform

Custom, PrestaShop and WooCommerce are all tools. We choose based on need: for a standard product range with a typical flow, an off-the-shelf platform will be cheaper; for unusual logic, a custom solution will cost less in the long run than ten plugins that conflict with each other and break with every update.

Migrating from an old store

We migrate products, customers and order history, and preserve SEO with a 301 redirect map. Every old URL gets an equivalent, so the rankings and links you have built up keep working.

If the store needs to connect to the rest of your company's systems, see integrations and automation. To bring in traffic, see digital advertising.

B2B ecommerce

When selling to businesses, a store works differently than with private buyers. It usually needs:

• customer-specific prices - each customer sees their own price list and discounts;
• credit and deferred payment - ordering against an invoice rather than a card;
• order approval - someone other than the person placing the order approves it;
• repeat orders - a previous order in one click, because B2B buyers buy the same things.

Off-the-shelf platforms usually offer these as plugins that conflict with each other. In a custom store they are part of the system from the start.

How long it takes

An online store is launched with the catalogue and core integrations, while B2B logic and new markets are added in later phases.

• Discovery - 2-4 weeks, ending with a scope and an estimate.
• Prototype - 1-2 weeks for the main scenarios.
• Development - in two-week sprints; a first working version usually within 2-4 months.
• Launch - 1-2 weeks including data migration and training.

Every stage ends with a result you can assess before moving on. More on this on our process page.

Public sector

Public institutions rarely sell online, but paid services, tickets or publications follow the same commerce logic and public sector requirements.

• A technical specification for the tender, based on the discovery results.
• WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility checks during testing.
• GDPR requirements and data retention rules from the start of the project.
• SLA-based support with an agreed response time and a monthly report.

How we work with public institutions is described on the public sector solutions page.

What drives the cost

• Catalogue size and the complexity of product attributes.
• Integrations with accounting or ERP, couriers and payments.
• B2B logic: customer-specific prices, credit, order approval.
• The number of languages, currencies and markets.

It pays to launch the catalogue with the core integrations first and add B2B logic and new markets in a second phase. We cover market data and how to calculate the total cost of ownership in our article on custom software development cost.