Costs and pricing
How much does an online store cost in Quebec?
In Quebec, building a professional online store generally costs $5,000 to $25,000 for an SMB, depending on the platform, catalogue size and required integrations (indicative range — to be confirmed for your project). On top of that come recurring fees of $100 to $600 per month (platform, apps, hosting, maintenance) and payment commissions of roughly 2.4 % to 2.9 % + $0.30 per transaction. A simple, well-built Shopify store can start around $3,000 to $6,000.
Updated September 13, 2026
A brochure site gets visited; an online store takes money. That is why it costs more: you have to wire up payments, taxes, inventory, shipping and after-sales support — and make sure all of it holds up on a Black Friday evening.
The three possible routes
1. Shopify — $3,000 to $15,000 to build. The platform handles hosting, security and payments. You pay a monthly subscription and, in most cases, a few apps. It is the fastest route to a first sale and the most predictable to maintain. The trade-off: you live inside the ecosystem's limits, and app fees add up.
2. WooCommerce (WordPress) — $4,000 to $20,000 to build. More freedom on design and business rules, no platform commission, and a natural fit with an existing blog. In exchange, hosting, updates, backups and security become your responsibility (or your agency's).
3. Custom — $25,000 and up. Justified when the selling logic leaves the beaten path: product configurators, per-customer pricing, B2B with accounts and quotes, ERP synchronisation. Below that level of complexity, custom costs a lot without a real advantage.
What makes up the build cost
(Indicative ranges — to be confirmed for your project.)
| Line item | Typical budget |
|---|---|
| Strategy, site structure and mockups | $1,000 to $4,000 |
| Theme integration and customisation | $1,500 to $8,000 |
| Product, variant and collection setup | $500 to $3,000 |
| Payments, GST/QST taxes, shipping rules | $500 to $2,000 |
| Bilingual version (FR/EN) | $1,000 to $4,000 |
| Migration from an existing store | $1,500 to $6,000 |
| Product photography and copy | $30 to $150 per product |
| Analytics and conversion tracking setup | $500 to $1,500 |
Product pages are the most underestimated line. Fifty well-photographed, well-written products are often more work than the site design itself — and they are what actually sells.
The recurring costs to plan for
- Platform subscription — $40 to $500 per month depending on plan and volume.
- Apps and extensions — reviews, subscriptions, loyalty points, live shipping rates: $20 to $300 per month in total, easily.
- Hosting and SSL (WooCommerce) — $30 to $150 per month for hosting that holds up under load.
- Maintenance and updates — $100 to $500 per month for patches, backups, monitoring and small improvements.
- Payment commissions — roughly 2.4 % to 2.9 % + $0.30 per transaction with the main processors, sometimes more for foreign cards.
On $100,000 in annual sales, payment commissions alone come to about $2,500 to $3,000. That belongs in your margin calculation, not in a surprise after the fact.
What is specific to Quebec
- Taxes — GST and QST must be calculated correctly based on the delivery province. A bad configuration is painful to fix after a few hundred orders.
- French is mandatory — the Charter of the French Language governs online commerce aimed at Quebec consumers: the French version must be available and at least equal in quality.
- Law 25 — collection of personal information, privacy policy, cookie consent and incident handling all apply to your store.
- Shipping — rates to remote Quebec regions surprise people; decide early between free shipping absorbed into margin, a flat rate, or live calculation.
How to avoid paying twice
- Launch with fewer products. A 20-product store that is well built and sells beats a 200-page catalogue thrown together.
- Choose the platform for your business rules, not for fashion. Switching platforms a year in costs nearly as much as a new site.
- Budget for the launch. A store with no traffic does not sell: keep money for acquisition (SEO, campaigns, newsletter).
- Set up conversion tracking from day one. Without clean data, you cannot tell which ad pays.
- Negotiate maintenance at quote time. A store is never "finished".
Ready to sell online?
At Bollé Communications, we pick the platform with you based on your products, volumes and business rules — then build a store your team can actually run. See our e-commerce, website design and web marketing (SEO/SEA) services to bring in qualified traffic, or get in touch for an estimate built around your project.
Frequently asked questions
Shopify or WooCommerce: which one costs less?
Shopify usually costs less to start and to maintain, with a predictable monthly subscription. WooCommerce avoids the platform fee but moves hosting, security and updates into your maintenance budget. Over three years the two often converge: choose based on your business rules (indicative range — to be confirmed for your project).
How much does a bilingual online store cost?
Budget $1,000 to $4,000 more than a single-language store: per-language URL structure, interface and product page translation, currency and tax handling. The cost depends mostly on how many product pages need translating.
What are the monthly costs of an online store?
Between $100 and $600 per month for an SMB: platform subscription, apps, hosting where applicable and maintenance. Payment commissions (about 2.4 % to 2.9 % + $0.30 per transaction) are added in proportion to sales.
How long does it take to launch an online store?
Six to twelve weeks for an SMB store: scoping and mockups, integration, product and tax setup, order testing, then launch. The catalogue and product photography are almost always the critical path.
Do we need to rebuild the store to sell in English Canada?
No, but you need a real English version — not machine translation — with its own URLs, translated product pages and appropriate shipping rules. It is far cheaper when the bilingual structure is planned into the build.
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