How Much Does It Cost to Develop an E-Commerce Website in Dubai?

Updated 15 Mar 2024
Published 15 Mar 2024
Nancy Bhargava 3448 Views
Cost to Develop an E-Commerce Website in Dubai

Do you ever think about the cost of bringing your dream e-commerce site online? The business landscape of Dubai is rapidly changing.

Everything is online, from grocery shopping to ordering the suite to rocking at the party. Online shopping has dominated traditional shopping and customers’ behavior.

So, it is time to have an e-commerce website for businesses, irrespective of their size. Dubai is a promising place for it. It is one of the top business hubs in the world. Here, you can find your target audience.

As an entrepreneur, it would be perfect for you to understand how much it costs to build an e-commerce website in Dubai, UAE.

Here, we have created this article that promises valuable information about e-commerce website development costs in Dubai and the cost-affecting factors.

After reading this article, you’ll have a clear idea of how much you need to invest.

So, let’s start together and explore this blog more!

UAE’s Ecommerce Market Insights

Jumping directly into e-commerce website development is the right thing to do if and only if you know the UAE’s e-commerce market. It’s necessary to know for making strategic decisions. Later, you’ll thank yourself.

So, it’s like,

The UAE is the 45th largest e-commerce market on this planet, and by the end of 2024, the predicted revenue will be $6,721.3 million. With a CAGR (2024-2028) of 8.7%, the projected market volume is US$9,378.6 million by 2028.

Let’s make it more interesting for you. The estimated GDP contribution of the UAE e-commerce industry is 2.4%, and the most popular online payment method for ecommerce transactions is cards.

Now, you have critical information about the United Arab Emirates ecommerce market. So, it’s time to go deeper into this blog.

Evaluating the Ecommerce Website Development Cost in Dubai

Dubai’s ecommerce market is in fast progression, and multiple businesses have already moved to the online landscape for product selling, i.e., online cosmetics, food delivery, electronics, and more.

Now, it’s your turn to go online, but first, you need to know Dubai’s ecommerce web development cost.

Predicting the exact cost is challenging, so we need to break it down into parts here. There are some costs affecting factors that decide the cost of an ecommerce website; based on it, you can have an idea of how much you need to invest.

So, these factors are like:

1. The Complexity

One of the biggest influencing factors on ecommerce website cost is – Complexity. The key factors to the complexity are features, functionalities, integration, and customization.

The more there are, the more complex, and so obviously, the cost will be higher. Also, note that development time is also different for different complexity levels. Using it, the approximated cost would be as follows:

Types of WebsitesEcommerce Web Development Cost (Approx.)Development Time (Approx.)
Simple ecommerce Website$10,000-$15,0001-2 Months
Ecommerce Website for Small Business in Dubai$15000- $20,0002-3 Months
Online Shopping Website for Large Business in Dubai$30,000-$40,0004-5 Months
Multi-Vendor Ecommerce Marketplace in Dubai$40,000 onwards (* depends on requirements)6+ Months

2. Design of an Ecommerce Website

Another major factor influencing ecommerce website development in UAE is the design of an ecommerce website that includes UI/UX, graphic designing, and other graphical components that attract a user.

Compared to the other components, UI/UX incurs more cost. And end users want to know about something other than the code you developed; they only need a simple but eye-catching interface.

Simple designing costs you $3000-$5000, but if you need an advanced design, including an advanced UI/UX, it can cost you nearly $10,000-$15,000.

Website development in Dubai

3. Hiring Cost

For developing a unique and robust ecommerce website, expertise is required, and you can access it by hiring ecommerce website developers in UAE.

On the other hand, it is a critical cost-deciding factor. Here, hiring cost depends on the experience of developers, such as you can hire a junior developer at $20/hr.

Or if you need an experienced developer, the hiring cost varies from $20/hr onwards. So, if you have hired developers hourly, the total working cost is later added to the full project development cost.

4. Domain & Hosting

For launching your ecommerce website, you need a domain name and hosting. The domain name will represent your digital identity; hosting refers to the space where your website and its data will be stored.

The good part is purchasing a domain name and hosting is the cheapest spending you’ll have to spend while developing the website. It is like $5-$15 approx. Here, you can choose the cloud-based hosting that is cost-effective.

5. Platform

Do you know- you can choose multiple platforms to develop your ecommerce website? Yes, it is true. But remember one thing, that the cost will be different.

For example, suppose you need a custom website, then it may cost you more than developing a website using pre-built templates that platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce provide.

Web BuilderEcommerce Development Cost (approx.)
Custom$20,000-$40,000
Shopify$10,000-$15,000
WooCommerce$8,000-$10,000
NopCommerce$8,000-$15,000

6. Payment Gateway Integration

In UAE, the most preferred method to buy stuff online is – Cards, but people also use other payment methods such as Telr, CashU, CCAvenue, Noon Payments, and PayPal.

Although you can integrate with them at your ecommerce site, each platform charges a per transaction fee and requires a maintenance fee. For an example-

  • Platform Maintenance Fee (Monthly/ Yearly)
  • Telr AED 349 (entry-level), AED 149 (small level), AED 99 (medium level)
  • CashU $1 Per Year
  • CCAvenue AED 200/Month, Customized Pricing on requirement basis.

7. Features & Functionality

Features and functionality are significant factors that influence eCommerce website development price in Dubai. It not only affects the cost but also the complexity of the website.

Usually, ecommerce websites with simple features are less costly than websites or portals having advanced features.

8. Integrations

The payment integration we’ve covered in this article affects the cost, but other integrations are also required to make an ecommerce website customer centric.

These integrations can be:

  • Sales channel
  • CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
  • CMS (Content Management System)
  • Shipping
  • Marketing Tools
  • Social media and others.

It covers a portion of the cost of developing an ecommerce website in the UAE.

9. Customization

Customization can be anything like- customizing images & graphics or feature customization. Suppose you use pre-designed templates (for example- Shopify) to build the site.

Then, it is less expensive than developing a fully customized website—tasks like branding, content display mechanism, layout customization, etc. The development cost is proportional to the development cost.

10. Mobile Friendliness

In UAE, over 66% of internet users prefer using mobile phones for accessing websites. So, it is required to make your ecommerce website mobile-friendly. It’ll also help you to compete in the market. It is another influencing factor to ecommerce website cost in Dubai.

11. Security

User data security and privacy is a challenge for an ecommerce brand as while registering the account on the website, users input their essential information like name, address, contact number, payment info, and others.

The best way is to use an SSL certificate that establishes a secure and encrypted connection. It costs $60-$250 approximately per year. Now, you have gone through all cost influencing factors to develop an ecommerce website.

Let’s make it simpler. Usually, two critical stages decide the cost –

  • Frontend Development and
  • Backend Development.

Based on requirements, ecommerce front-end development costs vary between $5000-$15,000, and backend development costs between $15,000-$25000.

For example, a medium complex ecommerce website development costs approximately $20,000-$35,000.

Ecommerce Website Development in Dubai

Strategy to Optimize Ecommerce Website Development Budget

Although there are multiple factors to ecommerce website development costs in UAE, a strategy can help you to save it. Let’s have a look at what it is.

  • Start With Your Requirements

A clear set of requirements can help you save eCommerce web development costs. It is also considered one of the best strategies for developing eCommerce websites.

You need to define all your requirements clearly, such as what features you need, website design, API integration, payment gateway, etc.

It will save you from unnecessary revision while developing the website, and timesaving is its additional advantage.

  • Be Sure About No. Of Web Pages

The more the web pages, the more the cost. So, before discussing your requirements with an eCommerce development company in Dubai, be sure how many web pages are sufficient.

It is advantageous in two ways: it will save money, and navigation will be easy for your customers.

  • Know What Customization You Need

Although you can start with a pre-built template that is considered one of the cost-effective ways to build an ecommerce website, if you need customization, then be sure about your customization requirements.

So, estimating the cost as per your requirements will be fine while discussing it with a website development company in UAE to develop your website.

  • Stick With the Timeline

You will develop an ecommerce website in Dubai for your business, so be aware of the timeline, as long timelines may increase the cost for you due to unnecessary development work.

The best way to develop and deploy the website on time is to hire an ecommerce development company in Dubai, which has a proven track record in developing state-of-the-art ecommerce websites on time and maintaining quality.

  • Use Copyright Free Images

It is one of the best ways to reduce costs to develop an ecommerce website in Dubai, UAE. The reason is that using copyrighted images may create issues for you, or you must pay for it if you want to use these images legally.

So, the better way is to use free images or original images of your products at no cost.

  • Collaborate With a Trusted Ecommerce Development Company

With a single click there, you can have a list of a hundred web development service providers in UAE, but based on it, you can’t decide which one is the best.

Suppose you have hired ecommerce developers from a random company; then later, there may be issues of hidden costs. So, always hire a trusted ecommerce development services provider, as the hidden cost is no issue with them.

The Final Thoughts

Developing an ecommerce website is a worthy investment for your business future, so cost is one of the criteria that you need to know. Usually, an ecommerce website development cost depends on business requirements.

Suppose you can just start with $15000 with a simple ecommerce website, or if you need an advanced website, it may go up to $40,000 or more.

The whole game revolves around project requirements. In this article, you have gone through an approximate cost estimation and how you can save the cost to develop an ecommerce website in Dubai.

Consult a trusted website development company in the UAE for exact cost estimation.

Do you have an ecommerce website idea and want to discuss it with experts?

We at Arka Softwares as a full-scale ecommerce development company in Dubai can assist you in creating a success story for your ecommerce business. You can reach us any time, and it would be an excellent opportunity for us to discuss your idea.

Nancy Bhargava

Nancy Bhargava is a Digital Editor and Content Marketer at Arka Softwares. She’s passionate about tech trends, news, and innovations with a focus on modern solutions all over the globe. She strives to create well-versed digital content that educates, informs, and guides businesses for better decision-making.

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