Here in Support we often speak with Online Shop customers about the design and layout of their websites and how to change the look and feel.
Several times in conversation, we have heard of our eShop customers involving a web design company to get their shop off the ground by uploading their images and products and generally designing their sites.
What shocks us is when we hear how much our customers have been charged for this service – in some cases it’s been up to £1000 and then further fees of several hundred pounds to make any additional updates. Compare this with our Managed Setup service. We’ll charge just £35 per hour for getting your eShop off the ground, and as a guide we’ve found that many typical layouts and designs don’t take more than two or three hours maximum.
We all know that separate web design companies aren’t always cheap, however their fees are typically for building a totally bespoke website from scratch – customised to your specific needs. For an online shopping site needing shopping baskets, payment calculators, secure checkout facilities etc. it’s easy to understand why their fees can be high as there’s a lot of work involved. The beauty of eShop, though, is that you’re already half way there already due to the templated design and the backend features already included in the package.
My advice to anyone thinking of involving a third party web design company in designing their eShop is to give us a call or drop us an email first. A few minutes of your time could save you hundreds of pounds. It may be that we can show you how to achieve what you want yourself within the eShop system, but if not we’re confident that our custom design prices are highly competitive.
