What does a B2B ecommerce project cost? Budget items beyond the subscription

Setup

Setup covers the initial configuration: store settings, taxes, payment and shipping methods, catalogue structure. Ask for a written list of what it includes, and of what will be billed separately.

Design and development

A theme adapted to your brand costs far less than a custom-built interface. Between the two, everything depends on the number of templates, specific features (configurator, quick order, comparison tool) and accessibility requirements.

With a headless architecture, this item is structurally larger, since the interface is built by your team or your partner.

Data migration

Products, customers, order history, price lists: data must be extracted, cleaned, transformed and imported. Cleanup is often underestimated. Incomplete records or duplicate customers cost time, whether the migration is done by the vendor or by your teams.

Integrations

This is often the most variable item in a B2B project. Its cost depends on:

• the number of systems to connect: ERP, accounting, warehouse management, CRM, carriers;
• whether a maintained connector exists, or custom development is required;
• the complexity of the rules to pass between systems: a contract price calculated in the ERP takes longer to integrate than a simple product list;
• the work required on the ERP side, sometimes billed by the ERP integrator itself.

Add-ons and options

Some features are sold separately: additional channels or warehouses, a marketplace, advanced pricing, priority support, third-party apps. List the ones you'll need over the first two years, not only at launch.

Training and support

Your teams need training, and so do your business customers. Plan for your sales reps' time to onboard the first accounts, and for the documentation to produce. Check the level of support included: channels, hours of coverage and response time written into the contract.

Maintenance and enhancements

An online platform is never finished. Plan an annual budget for:

• fixes and security updates, especially for custom code;
• adapting integrations when a system releases a new version;
• enhancements requested by your customers or teams.

A project budgeted only up to launch often stalls at the first improvement request.

Payment fees, where applicable

If your customers pay online, the payment processor charges a fee on each transaction, whether or not the platform takes one. For example, Stripe's published pricing for Canada (checked in October 2026) lists 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction on a Canadian card, a surcharge for international cards and currency conversion, and a fee per dispute. Other processors have different rate cards, and high volumes are often negotiable.

In B2B, part of your orders is paid on invoice, by bank transfer or direct deposit. These payments carry no card fees, but they require accounts receivable follow-up.

Quote assumptions and exclusions

Two quotes can only be compared if they rest on the same assumptions. Read carefully what is excluded: data cleanup, content, photography, ERP-side integration, load testing, accessibility, interface hosting. A low quote may simply exclude more.

Budget grid to complete

Fill in one column per vendor from the quotes you receive. Leave cells blank until you have the information.

The "Internal team time" line is often forgotten. It appears on no invoice, but your teams will spend time validating data, testing and training customers.

Where Shopflow fits

Shopflow publishes its prices in Canadian dollars: monthly plans, setup fees "starting at," add-on modules, and no percentage of sales taken by Shopflow. Payment processor fees, custom integrations and the maintenance of your other systems still need to be budgeted, as with any platform.