Online store development: where to start and how to choose a platform

Online store development differs from a regular website. It is not just design and content but a sales system with products, a cart, payments, delivery and accounting. A correctly chosen platform and structure determine how easy the store is to run and how much it sells. In this article we go through the fundamental decisions of online store development: where to start, how to choose a platform, what the process involves and which mistakes cost more in the Latvian market than cutting corners saves.

Where to start: products and processes before the platform

Online store development does not start with choosing a platform — it starts with clarity about what and how you will sell.

Equally important is understanding who will run the store day to day. If you do not have a dedicated e-commerce specialist, you need a platform your team can manage independently — adding products, changing prices and processing orders without involving a developer.

A practical tip: before you request a quote, answer a few basic questions that determine the right platform and let the developer give a real estimate rather than an abstract price:

• How many products will be in the catalogue?
• Are they simple products or ones with variations (for example, sizes, colours)?
• How is delivery handled and who processes orders?

Choosing a platform: WooCommerce, Shopify or a custom solution

Choosing the platform is the most important decision in online store development. The three main directions and their practical differences:

• WooCommerce (based on WordPress) — flexible, with full control over design and features and excellent Latvian integrations (MakeCommerce, Omniva, DPD, Tildes Jumis). For most small and medium online stores in Latvia — the right choice.
• Shopify — quick to launch, a hosted solution with a monthly subscription. Good for a very simple start, but with weaker local Latvian integrations and less control over customisation and costs in the long run.
• Custom solution (Laravel or other) — when the store is large, with special business logic, B2B pricing tiers, complex integrations or high load. More expensive at the start, but without the limits that standard platforms hit.

What sets online store development apart from a website

A regular website presents a company; an online store sells. That is a fundamental difference that means more moving parts: a product catalogue with categories and filters, a cart, a checkout flow, online payments, inventory tracking, order management and a link to accounting.

That is exactly why online store development usually takes more time and costs more than an equivalent presentation website. Each of these components has to be built, connected and tested — and a fault in any of them directly affects sales or creates manual work every day.

Latvian market requirements

A Latvian online store does not operate in a vacuum. For a local customer to be able to pay and receive the goods in the usual way, specific local integrations are needed. Without them, the store loses a large share of potential purchases already at the checkout step.

• Payments: MakeCommerce or Klix, which cover the local banks (Swedbank, SEB, Citadele, Luminor), as well as cards and Apple/Google Pay.
• Delivery: Omniva, DPD, Latvijas Pasts and Smartpost parcel lockers — in Latvia most buyers choose parcel-locker delivery.
• Accounting: integration with Tildes Jumis or another system, so orders do not have to be entered manually.
• Invoices and data: automatic invoice generation and import/export of product or order data.
• Compliance: VAT calculation under Latvian law, right of withdrawal and a cookie notice with GDPR compliance.

The checkout flow determines how much the store sells

On average a large share of items added to the cart are never purchased — and the most common reasons are avoidable: too many steps in the checkout process, mandatory registration, unclear delivery costs and a poor mobile experience. This means the checkout flow is where improvements give the biggest return.

A good checkout process is short and clear: the option to buy as a guest without creating an account, delivery costs visible from the very start and a mobile experience without zooming and horizontal scrolling. Since a large share of purchases happen on a phone, a mobile checkout flow is not an add-on but a basic requirement.

How much online store development costs and how long it takes

The cost and timeline of an online store depend on the scope and platform. A simple WooCommerce store with a standard design, basic integrations and a small number of products usually starts at around a few thousand euros and takes 6–10 weeks. A larger store with a custom design, many integrations and a complex catalogue takes more.

Custom solutions for B2B portals or high-load stores start at a higher level and require longer development. You also have to account for the ongoing costs: hosting, domain, payment fees (~1.5–2.5%) and maintenance. A cheap store that is not set up properly often costs more in lost purchases than a quality solution.

The most common mistakes in online store development

Most of the expensive mistakes in online store development are predictable and avoidable. If you are planning a store, steer clear of these:

• Choosing the platform before understanding the business processes — as a result the store does not match the real needs.
• Ignoring local integrations — without MakeCommerce and Omniva/DPD the Latvian buyer simply leaves.
• Postponing accounting integration — entering every order manually quickly turns into hours per week.
• A complex checkout process with mandatory registration and hidden delivery costs.
• Leaving the mobile experience until the end, even though a large share of purchases happen there.
• Ignoring SEO and product data quality — the store stays dependent on paid advertising for every visitor.