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01 · Ecommerce development

An ecommerce development company that picks the platform last.

An ecommerce development company builds, rebuilds and extends online stores, and should tell you which platform fits before it writes a line of code. We build on Magento and Adobe Commerce, Shopify and Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, headless Next.js and fully custom stacks, and we pick by catalog, B2B needs and integrations, not habit.

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Magento first

What we do on Magento / Adobe Commerce

  • Complex catalogs: configurable and bundle products, many websites and store views per install
  • Adobe Commerce B2B: company accounts, shared catalogs, negotiable quotes and Pay on Account
  • Hyvä themes by default, and Luma fixes when a rebuild isn't on the table
  • Upgrades to a supported 2.4.x release, with a backported fix where one exists until you move

Everywhere else

And on every other platform

  • Shopify and Shopify Plus, when fixed price lists fit and you'd rather Shopify ran the servers
  • BigCommerce and its B2B Edition, when you want SaaS and several storefronts on one catalog
  • WooCommerce, when WordPress already runs the business and someone owns the updates
  • Headless Next.js storefronts, and fully custom builds when every platform says no

What an ecommerce development company does

Strip the jargon off "ecommerce development solutions" and you get seven jobs, all in our ecommerce development services:

  • Builds. A new store on the platform that fits, catalog to checkout.
  • Rebuilds. Same platform, done properly: a new theme, cleaner data, fewer extensions.
  • Replatforms. A move to a different platform, with every old URL accounted for.
  • Upgrades. A supported version, without starting over.
  • Integrations. ERP, PIM, shipping, tax, payments and marketplaces, kept in sync.
  • Configure-to-order. Product configurators whose rules decide which options can combine.
  • B2B quoting. Company accounts, customer price lists and quotes that become orders without re-keying: the core of our B2B ecommerce builds.

Magento is home. We're fluent everywhere else. Our Magento development services go deepest, since Magento 1; Shopify development services and headless commerce development have pages of their own.

Which platform fits your catalog

Most comparisons stop at features. Ours adds who patches the platform and how its fee grows.

As of . Each row links the vendor docs behind it. "Our call" marks opinion. The headless and custom rows describe architectures, not products.
PlatformCatalog size and complexityB2B pricing and quotesERP depthWho patches and hosts itLicense or fee modelWhen not to choose it
Magento Open Source / Adobe CommerceConfigurable and bundle products; many websites per install (Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure and on-premises: store views in packs of 15).Adobe Commerce: shared catalogs, negotiable quotes. Open Source: extensions.REST, GraphQL, queued async endpoints; plugins change public methods without core edits. Cloud Service: out of process only.Self-hosted: you. Cloud infrastructure: Adobe hosts, you patch Commerce. Cloud Service: Adobe does both.Open Source: free (OSL 3.0). Adobe Commerce: per contract, tiered by GMV and AOV or by order count.Our call: simple catalog, nobody to patch.76891011451213
Shopify / Shopify PlusUp to 2,048 variants per product; no filters on collections over 5,000 products.Price lists, net terms; 3 active catalogs below Plus. Quote requests: an app, on any plan.GraphQL Admin API: 100 points a second, 1,000 on Plus.Shopify hosts it; apps need an API version upgrade at least yearly.Plan subscriptions; Plus by contract term, revenue-based at higher volume.Our call: formula-based pricing, or several brands (one per Plus contract).171815161920212223
BigCommerceUp to 600 variants per product; several storefronts from one catalog.B2B Edition: quotes, price lists, company terms; priced on request.REST and GraphQL APIs, plus webhooks.BigCommerce hosts and maintains it.Plans tiered by trailing 12-month GMV: lower tiers auto-upgrade, higher tiers pay an overage.Our call: order logic needing platform changes.2425262728293031
WooCommerceVariations get their own SKU, price and stock. Our call: big catalogs need tuned hosting.Role pricing and quotes through extensions.Full read-write REST API inside your own install.You: WordPress, WooCommerce and every plugin.Free (GPL); paid extensions and hosting on top.Our call: quoting is core, or nobody owns updates.373233343536
Headless Next.js on a commerce back endThe back end's limits, plus your content model.The back end's B2B, in your own front end.Our call: sync the ERP with the back end.Two systems: the back end and your Next.js app.Next.js is free (MIT); hosting and back-end fees on top.Our call: the only goal is "faster".3839
Fully customAny model you'll maintain.Built to your contracts and approvals.As deep as the ERP's API goes.You, PCI DSS scope included.No license; you fund code and upkeep.Our call: when a platform fits.40

Three things buyers misread in it:

WooCommerce for enterprise stores

Can WooCommerce carry an enterprise store? On three conditions. Order storage: since WooCommerce 8.2, new stores keep orders in their own tables, called High-Performance Order Storage, but if an active plugin is incompatible, WooCommerce disables the option and leaves support "up to the extension developers." Hosting: WooCommerce runs in your hosting environment, so PHP, the database and caching are yours to size and patch. Extensions: B2B pricing, quotes and most integrations are add-ons, and every one is another update to test. Fewer, better extensions is the strategy.

Enterprise ecommerce development

Enterprise ecommerce development is the same job with less room for error. What changes when the store is big:

  • Many stores. Magento runs many websites and store views from one installation; Adobe Commerce licenses store views in packs of 15 on cloud infrastructure and on-premises. Shopify Plus includes nine expansion stores, one brand per contract. BigCommerce sells through several storefronts from one catalog.
  • Prices per market and account. Currency by market, a price list per trade account, both synced with the ERP.
  • The ERP as source of truth. At this size the store rarely owns its prices. The ERP usually does, with stock, credit and the customer record, and every order has to land there exactly once. That's ERP integration, built on queues with idempotency keys.
  • Release gates. Every change is a reviewed pull request that clears code review and security gates, with a rollback plan written before the release.
  • PCI DSS. It applies to every business that stores, processes or transmits card data or could affect its security, merchants included. Shopify calls itself "certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant". Self-hosted stores carry more of the load, and Adobe's upgrade guide is blunt: "To remain PCI-compliant, merchants must be on the latest patch or security patch."

How a build runs

The four steps are Audit, Plan, Build and Run, each defined by what you receive: a written report, a written scope (with the redirect map on a replatform), a staging store you can click through, and a release with its rollback plan. Nothing reaches your store until it clears two blocking gates, and an engineer signs off on both. Your data, integrations and approvals set the pace, so we plan by deliverable, not by calendar.

Rebuilds and rankings: the redirect map comes first

Can you change platforms and keep your traffic? Google's site-move guide won't promise it: "Expect temporary fluctuation in site ranking during the move." Lasting losses usually come from old URLs that stop resolving, so we follow Google's rules: map every old URL, serve a server-side permanent redirect (a 301 or 308, both permanent to Google) for each one that has a new home, return a 404 or 410 for the rest, and keep the redirects "for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year."

We build the redirect map before cutover, test every redirect on staging and crawl the live site after launch to catch what slipped. The full method is on our ecommerce migration services page.

What drives the cost of a build

We don't publish prices. SKU count is the least of it: the work sits in what hangs off each SKU. Quotes for ecommerce website development services move with five drivers:

  • Catalog size and data quality. Products, variants and attributes, and how much of that data needs cleaning before it moves.
  • Integrations. Every ERP, PIM, shipping, tax and marketplace connection, and how much each one carries.
  • Customizations and B2B rules. Pricing logic, quotes, approvals and configurators the platform doesn't do natively.
  • Design scope. A tuned theme, or a design system built from scratch.
  • The team on your side. Who owns content, data and sign-off.

The platform's license or fee comes on top, and the vendor sets it; the platform matrix names each model. Market rates, with sources, are in our guide to what an ecommerce website costs.

Hire ecommerce developers, or hire a team

Freelance marketplaces will rent you ecommerce developers. What they don't include is the review gate, the security gate or anyone who answers for the release. Four ways to work with us:

  • Project. A build, replatform, integration or audit, scoped in writing before any code.
  • Retainer. A standing team for ongoing development and platform care, working in your repository, your ticket queue and your release process, behind the same two gates.
  • Fractional head of ecommerce. Roadmap, vendors, a P&L lens and hands on the code when needed, without a full-time hire.
  • Emergency. Hacked, down or bleeding orders: triage first.

Agencies hire us too: we build under the agency's name, invisible to its client. The details, white-label work included, are on our engagement models page.

How to choose an ecommerce development company

Directory lists of the top ecommerce development companies lean on reviews and logos. Whether you shortlist an ecommerce web development company in the USA or offshore, five questions tell you more:

  1. Who owns the code? The repository, the hosting accounts and every credential should sit in your name from the first commit, not arrive in a handover.
  2. Who writes it, and who reviews it? Juniors, subcontractors and AI all write code now. Ask who reads each change before it merges. Our answer: AI agents draft, senior engineers steer, and an engineer reads every diff.
  3. What does a change pass before production? Code review, a security check, staging and a rollback plan. Ask to see the checklist.
  4. How do they migrate? Ask for the redirect and data-validation method in writing. Ours is published.
  5. What can you check without a sales call? Published methods, any public code, and the agency's own site. Ours: that migration method, and this site's HTML.

If an agency can't answer these in writing, the logo wall doesn't matter.

Ecommerce development questions

What is ecommerce development?

Ecommerce development is the engineering behind an online store: choosing and configuring the platform, building the storefront, modeling the catalog, wiring checkout, payments, tax and shipping, and connecting the ERP and other systems. It covers new builds, rebuilds, replatforms and upgrades, plus keeping a live store patched and fast.

How much does an ecommerce website cost?

We don't publish prices. Ours are scoped in writing after an audit, and five things move them: catalog size and data quality, integrations, customizations and B2B rules, design scope, and the team on your side. The platform's license or fee is separate, set by the vendor. Market rates, with sources, are in our cost guide.

How long does an ecommerce build take?

There's no honest standard answer, so here's what sets the schedule: how clean the catalog data is, how many integrations need rebuilding, how much custom logic the platform needs, how quickly content and approvals come back from your side, and, on a replatform, the redirect map, finished and tested before cutover. We schedule against those in writing after the audit.

Which ecommerce platform should we choose?

The one your catalog, B2B rules and integrations fit natively, run by people who can patch and host it. Our call: Shopify for fixed price lists and vendor-run servers; Magento for complex catalogs and many sites, with Adobe Commerce for deep native B2B; BigCommerce for SaaS with B2B Edition; WooCommerce when WordPress already runs the business; headless when the theme is the bottleneck; custom when every platform would be fought.

Can we change platforms without losing rankings?

Some movement is normal. Google's site-move guide says: "Expect temporary fluctuation in site ranking during the move." What lingers is usually an old URL that broke. So we account for every old URL: each one with a new home gets a permanent redirect, tested on staging; then we crawl the live site after launch and watch Search Console.

Custom build or a platform: which do we need?

Usually a platform: cart, checkout, tax, promotions and the admin come built and maintained. Custom earns its upkeep when the pricing logic or the configurator is what you sell and no platform's model bends to it. As a custom ecommerce development company, we still recommend a platform first whenever one fits.

Can we hire dedicated ecommerce developers instead of an agency?

Yes, on a retainer: a standing team works in your repository, your ticket queue and your release process, and every change still clears our code review and security gates. If you need leadership more than hands, a fractional head of ecommerce covers roadmap, vendors and a P&L lens. Agencies can hire us under their own name too.

Sources

Last reviewed

  1. Google Search Central: Site moves with URL changes (updated August 20, 2026) · Checked
  2. Google Search Central: Redirects and Google Search (updated April 14, 2026) · Checked
  3. Adobe KB: Security update available for Adobe Commerce, APSB26-153 (updated October 16, 2026) · Checked
  4. Adobe Commerce: Shared responsibility security and operational model (updated October 8, 2026) · Checked
  5. Adobe Commerce: SaaS vs PaaS comparison (updated October 8, 2026) · Checked
  6. Adobe Commerce: Site, store, and view scope (updated October 8, 2026) · Checked
  7. Adobe Commerce: Create a product, product types (updated October 8, 2026) · Checked
  8. Adobe Commerce: Introduction to Adobe Commerce B2B · Checked
All 40 sources
  1. Adobe Commerce: Install the Adobe Commerce B2B extension · Checked
  2. Adobe Commerce developer docs: Asynchronous web endpoints · Checked
  3. Adobe Commerce developer docs: Plugins (interceptors) · Checked
  4. Magento Open Source on GitHub: LICENSE.txt (Open Software License 3.0) · Checked
  5. Adobe: Adobe Commerce on Cloud product description (effective April 30, 2026) · Checked
  6. Adobe Commerce: Overview of the upgrade process (updated October 8, 2026) · Checked
  7. Shopify Help Center: Shopify B2B features by plan · Checked
  8. Shopify Help Center: Overview of B2B features on Shopify · Checked
  9. Shopify Help Center: Adding variants · Checked
  10. Shopify Help Center: Adding filters with Shopify Search & Discovery · Checked
  11. Shopify developer docs: GraphQL Admin API rate limits · Checked
  12. Shopify developer docs: About API versioning · Checked
  13. Shopify: Pricing (plan comparison and FAQ) · Checked
  14. Shopify: Shopify Plus pricing · Checked
  15. Shopify developer docs: PriceList object (GraphQL Admin API) · Checked
  16. BigCommerce: Variants and modifiers · Checked
  17. BigCommerce developer docs: Introduction to Multi-Storefront · Checked
  18. BigCommerce developer docs: Introduction to the Buyer Portal · Checked
  19. BigCommerce developer docs: Company entities and relationships · Checked
  20. BigCommerce App Marketplace: B2B Edition · Checked
  21. BigCommerce developer documentation · Checked
  22. BigCommerce: Secure web hosting · Checked
  23. BigCommerce: Pricing · Checked
  24. WooCommerce developer docs: High-Performance Order Storage · Checked
  25. WooCommerce Marketplace: B2B for WooCommerce (Addify) · Checked
  26. WooCommerce developer docs: REST API · Checked
  27. WooCommerce: Server requirements · Checked
  28. WooCommerce on GitHub: license.txt (GPL) · Checked
  29. WooCommerce: Managing products · Checked
  30. Next.js docs: Deploying (updated August 6, 2026) · Checked
  31. Next.js on GitHub: license.md (MIT) · Checked
  32. PCI Security Standards Council: PCI DSS · Checked

How we pick the platform

How we work

Four steps. Written down before anyone opens an editor. The full process →

  1. Audit

    We read your code, catalog, integrations and analytics. You get a written report: versions, risks, the platforms that fit and the one we'd pick. It's yours whether or not you hire us.

  2. Plan

    A written scope before any code: each requirement mapped to a native feature, an extension or custom code, each record to the system that owns it, and every old URL accounted for.

  3. Build

    Every change lands as a reviewed pull request and clears our code review and security gates. You click through each feature on a staging copy before it goes live.

  4. Run

    Launch with the rollback plan written in advance. Then monitoring and patch alerts on a retainer sized to your store, or a documented handover to your team.

Proof, not adjectives

  • Zero downtime

    Tens of thousands of redirects mapped for a zero-downtime replatform.

  • ms, not s

    Server response times cut from seconds to milliseconds.

  • Declarative

    Sprawling hand-maintained configurator rule sets replaced by a small declarative rules engine.

Engagement models

Next: Integrate & Automate

  • Project

    Builds, replatforms, integrations and audits, scoped in writing before work starts.

    Talk shop: Project

  • Retainer

    A standing team and a monthly budget for development, SEO and content, and platform care.

    Talk shop: Retainer

  • Fractional head of ecommerce

    Senior ecommerce leadership, part time: roadmap, vendors, a P&L lens, and hands on the code when needed.

    Talk shop: Fractional head of ecommerce

  • Emergency

    Hacked, down or bleeding orders. Triage first: a written reply within one business day, then a plan.

    Get help now: Emergency

Your catalog has a type. We'll find it. Send the platform you're on, the size of the catalog and the ERP behind it. We'll reply in writing with the platform we'd pick, and why.

Talk shop