Depending on the scope, developing an online shop typically takes a few weeks to several months. The biggest factors influencing the duration are the feature scope, how individual the design is, integrations with ERP and inventory systems, data migration, and the timely delivery of content and product data.
A serious answer to this question starts with a counter-question: What should the shop be able to do? Two online shops built on the same platform can differ considerably in development effort – depending on how many products are managed, which features are required and which systems need to be connected. As a rough guide: compact shop projects are usually ready to launch after a few weeks, while extensive projects with integrations and data migration typically take several months.
The most important time factors
- Feature scope – Payment methods, multiple languages, customer groups, tiered pricing or product configurators noticeably increase implementation and testing effort.
- Design – A customised standard theme is implemented much faster than a fully individual design with several feedback rounds.
- Integrations – Connections to ERP, inventory management or accounting via integrations require coordination with third-party systems, development and thorough testing.
- Data migration – Transferring products, customers and orders from a legacy system is often more demanding than expected, especially with data that has grown over years.
- Content and product data – Copy, images and well-maintained product data must be available on time; in our experience, missing content is one of the most common causes of delays.
- Feedback and approval cycles – The faster drafts and interim versions are reviewed and approved, the shorter the overall timeline.
On top of that comes the project process itself: concept, quotation and design precede development, while quality assurance and launch preparation follow it. Pure programming time is therefore only one part of the overall duration – planning the phases before and after from the start leads to far more realistic deadlines. Many work steps can be parallelised, however: while development is underway, product data can be maintained, copy written and legal content prepared – good project planning makes deliberate use of this leeway.
An example of the range: a shop with a manageable product range, common payment methods and a customised theme is implemented considerably faster than a B2B shop with customer groups, individual price lists, approval workflows and an ERP connection. The number of people involved also plays a role: the more departments contribute requirements, the more coordination is needed – that is not a drawback, but it does take time on the calendar.
How to arrive at a realistic schedule
For a project with Shopware 6 – our main focus – we first clarify scope and requirements in conversation and during the concept phase. You then receive a timeframe with milestones against which progress can be measured. A reliable schedule also takes your internal routines into account: holiday periods, trade fairs or seasonal business. Launching a shop immediately before the strongest sales period of the year is rarely a good idea – a start with sufficient lead time is better, allowing you to gather experience in live operation and fine-tune.
When relaunching an existing shop, another factor comes into play: migration and redirects need careful planning so that search engine rankings and existing data are preserved. A thorough inventory at the start of the project usually pays off several times over – it prevents legacy issues from surfacing only shortly before go-live and disrupting the schedule. For a relaunch, you should therefore tend to plan more lead time than for a fresh build without a legacy system.
Blanket deadline promises without a requirements analysis are rarely reliable. In a free initial consultation we clarify your plans – and then give you a realistic assessment of duration and effort for your project.