Real Cost to Take a 100-Product Store Online 2025

Small retailers know the story. Customers expect to browse, buy, and track orders from their phones, yet the path from physical shelves to online checkout can feel like a maze of platforms, fees, and moving parts. The question is not whether to go online, but how to do it simply, affordably, and quickly without turning your week into a tech support ticket. This guide breaks down the real costs for a 100 product store in 2025, from setup and apps to payment and delivery fees, then walks through an ROI model you can adapt. If you want a managed shortcut that handles the design, build, inventory sync, and local delivery setup, services like StoreStudio are built specifically for time strapped local retailers.

The platform foundation most small retailers choose in 2025

For most SMB retailers, Shopify remains the default starting point because hosting, security, checkout, and POS integrations are built in and predictable. According to Shopify's pricing page, the Basic plan is 39 dollars per month when paid monthly, with online credit card rates starting at 2.9 percent plus 30 cents if you use Shopify Payments. If you use a third party payment provider instead, Shopify lists an additional fee on the Basic plan of 2 percent. Shopify regularly runs promotions like start for free then 1 dollar per month for 3 months for new stores, which can soften early cash outlay.

If you want to try the platform while you plan your launch, starting a trial with Shopify lets you test themes, import products, and configure payments before committing. You can always graduate from Basic later if order volume or features justify it.

Startup costs you will likely see in month one

A clean, professional domain and a fast theme are your storefront’s curb appeal. On the domain side, Shopify notes that a .com through its registrar typically costs between 11 and 14 dollars per year, as explained in Shopify’s domain price guide. Theme choices range from free to premium. Many small retailers keep theme spending low at launch, prioritizing speed over custom bells and whistles. If you have an existing POS, you will want to ensure your POS and online inventory are synced to avoid overselling; Shopify’s overview of real time inventory tracking describes how merchants can monitor quantities across locations and channels, as outlined in Shopify’s inventory guide.

If you prefer a managed build instead of DIY trial and error, StoreStudio handles the design, build, inventory synchronization, and local delivery configuration, aiming to launch a typical 100 product shop in about two weeks with brand aligned visuals and a practical operations setup. The value for busy teams is not only time savings but also fewer apps and avoided rework later. Learn more about the team and approach on the About page, or browse practical tips on the StoreStudio blog.

Payment processing fees you will actually pay on orders

Every order runs through a payment rail, so understanding payment fees is essential for pricing and margin planning.

• Shopify Payments. The Basic plan lists online rates starting at 2.9 percent plus 30 cents, as shown on Shopify’s pricing page. If you opt for an external gateway, Shopify adds a 2 percent fee on Basic that you should factor into your margin.

• Stripe. Stripe’s published standard US pricing is 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per successful domestic card charge, with an additional 1.5 percent for international cards, according to Stripe’s pricing page. Stripe also charges a dispute fee. As Stripe’s chargebacks explainer notes, Stripe charges 15 dollars per chargeback, which can increase the cost of fraudulent or disputed orders.

• PayPal. PayPal displays rates for PayPal Checkout and card processing on its business fees page. According to PayPal’s business fees, standard online rates for PayPal Checkout are 3.49 percent plus a fixed fee per transaction in the US. If you offer PayPal alongside cards, note the higher headline rate when comparing blended processing costs.

• BNPL. Buy now pay later can lift conversion for higher ticket baskets, but plan for higher merchant discount rates than standard cards. Many BNPL arrangements are priced higher than card fees, a pattern discussed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in its overview of BNPL dynamics in this economic brief.

The takeaway is simple. If you keep to Shopify Payments or another single primary processor, you will be close to 3 percent plus 30 cents per order for most domestic transactions, plus disputes when they happen. If you add PayPal or BNPL, your blended rate often creeps upward, which is fine if conversion goes up more than the incremental fee.

The tech stack and app costs for a 100 product shop

Most small Shopify stores rely on a handful of apps for essentials like emails, reviews, delivery scheduling, and shipping labels. Industry analyses suggest merchants frequently install around six apps on average as they grow, as several third party roundups note, such as Uptek’s 2025 statistics summary in which the author states the average merchant installs six apps to optimize their store, as referenced in Uptek’s app store statistics. The exact number for your store depends on how much is handled by your agency or managed service.

Email marketing is a common early add on. Klaviyo lists entry pricing for email at 20 dollars per month for small contact lists, as shown on Klaviyo’s pricing page. Mailchimp’s Essentials plan starts at a low monthly rate for 500 contacts with a monthly send limit, as described in Mailchimp’s pricing page. A product reviews app, a shipping rates or label tool, and a local delivery scheduling app may add another 30 to 100 dollars per month combined. Some categories remain free if you stay within Shopify’s ecosystem. For instance, local delivery configuration is available free on all plans according to Shopify’s local delivery page.

Managed builds often reduce the number of apps needed because core workflows are planned upfront. Services like StoreStudio typically recommend a lean stack and configure the apps you do need to avoid duplicate features and overlapping subscriptions.

Delivery, shipping, and packaging costs that determine margin

Post purchase costs are where many new stores discover the biggest surprises. Carriers adjust rates annually and local delivery networks charge flat fees that add up quickly in dense delivery zones.

• Carrier rate trends in 2025. UPS and FedEx both announced average general rate increases of 5.9 percent effective January 2025. Pitney Bowes summarizes the UPS adjustments in its 2025 guide where it notes the 5.9 percent GRI, as seen in Pitney Bowes’ UPS 2025 update. FedEx details its 2025 changes on the rate changes page, which states that package and freight services will increase by an average of 5.9 percent, as listed on FedEx’s rate changes page.

• USPS changes. USPS signaled no January 2025 increase for Market Dominant products like First Class Mail, but did recommend modest increases for competitive Shipping Services. USPS explains that Shipping Services prices would rise about 3.2 percent for Priority Mail and 3.9 percent for Ground Advantage in the 2025 filings, according to USPS’s national release. USPS’s price change materials are cataloged on Postal Explorer and in posting notices like Notice 123.

• Local delivery networks. For on demand local delivery, DoorDash Drive markets a flat fee per order. DoorDash’s merchant page states there are no monthly fees and a flat per delivery price in the range of 6.99 to 10.99 dollars per order, as described on DoorDash Drive On Demand. Uber Direct positions similarly with per delivery pricing and no subscription, and cites per delivery pricing as low as 7.99 dollars in the US, as shown on Uber Direct’s page. These fees are paid by the merchant unless you pass them on to the customer.

• Packaging materials and handling. Box and mailer costs may look small per order but add up across a month. Shippo’s pricing explainer shows an example where a basic corrugated box can cost about 56 cents each in quantity, as illustrated in Shippo’s article on shipping and handling fees. Across SKUs, most small ecommerce operations see packaging material costs in the 50 cents to 2 dollars range per order, a range echoed by third party roundups such as Opensend’s packaging cost statistics.

Returns also matter. The National Retail Federation reported that the overall return rate in the US retail industry was 14.5 percent in 2023 and that returns totaled 743 billion dollars, according to NRF’s 2023 research. Early 2025 updates suggest a slight moderation, with Digital Commerce 360 reporting a 2024 returns rate of 13.21 percent of sales, as described in Digital Commerce 360’s coverage. For modeling, you can assume a conservative 10 to 15 percent returns rate depending on category.

Traffic, conversion, and AOV benchmarks to sanity check your projections

Your online P&L hinges on three multipliers: traffic, conversion, and average order value. Helpful public benchmarks can tether your plan to reality.

• Conversion. Shopify’s own guidance puts a very good ecommerce conversion rate at above 3.2 percent, with the top 10 percent of Shopify stores clearing 4.7 percent or more, as summarized in Shopify’s conversion rate guide. Littledata’s live benchmarks place the average Shopify conversion at about 1.4 percent, with top performers above 3.2 percent, as shown in Littledata’s benchmark page.

• AOV. Across ecommerce, Littledata tracked an average order value around 101 dollars in its 2024 performance report, as noted in Littledata’s performance dashboard. Local retailers can skew lower or higher depending on category. Modeling multiple AOV scenarios is wise if your 100 product catalog mixes low and mid priced items.

• Paid traffic costs. Google Ads retail clicks vary by format and competition. As a directional benchmark, Business of Apps’ CPC roundup reports Shopping and Retail clicks around 1.20 dollars on Google, summarizing findings from industry sources, as seen in Business of Apps CPC rates. Your actual CPC will differ, but this helps bound customer acquisition cost assumptions.

• Speed effect. Faster sites convert better. Deloitte’s study found that a 0.1 second improvement in mobile site speed increased retail conversion rates by 8.4 percent on average, as detailed in Deloitte’s Milliseconds Make Millions and summarized on web.dev. This is one reason to keep themes lean and pass Google’s Core Web Vitals, which Google describes in its Search Central documentation on Core Web Vitals.

• Omnichannel uplift. Customers who shop across channels spend more. McKinsey notes that omnichannel customers shop 1.7 times more than single channel shoppers, as explained in McKinsey’s omnichannel explainer. Enabling local pickup and delivery can increase order frequency and reach without heavy freight costs. BOPIS is also growing rapidly, with Capital One Shopping reporting that BOPIS sales are projected to grow at 16.7 percent annually through 2030, as seen in their BOPIS trend summary.

A practical ROI model for a 100 product store

Start with a simple monthly model you can adjust. Assume 100 listed products with good photos and basic descriptions. Traffic flow, AOV, and conversion are the main levers. Then layer on payment, shipping, packaging, returns, apps, and platform costs.

Base case assumptions

• Traffic. 3,500 site sessions per month from a mix of organic, social, and light paid search.

• Conversion rate. 1.8 percent, which is modestly above the broad Shopify average but below the top quartile cited by Littledata.

• Orders. 63 orders per month (3,500 x 1.8 percent).

• AOV. 68 dollars, which sits below the 101 dollar cross industry average reported by Littledata but is reasonable for boutiques and specialty retail.

Revenue and variable costs

• Gross revenue. 4,284 dollars (63 orders x 68 dollars).

• Payment processing. Using Shopify Payments Basic at 2.9 percent plus 0.30 dollars, fees are about 4,284 x 2.9 percent plus 63 x 0.30, which equals 124.24 plus 18.90, totaling roughly 143.14 dollars. If 15 percent of orders use PayPal at 3.49 percent plus 0.49 dollars, the blended rate creeps up a few basis points. Keep a conservative cushion.

• Packaging. If average materials cost 0.90 dollars per order based on examples like Shippo’s box cost illustration and broader ranges like Opensend’s estimates, that totals 56.70 dollars.

• Shipping or delivery. Suppose 55 percent of orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage or UPS Ground at an average merchant cost of 8.50 dollars, and 20 percent use local delivery at 8.99 dollars via DoorDash Drive or Uber Direct, with the rest being in store pickup. The weighted shipping and delivery cost would be roughly 63 x [(0.55 x 8.50) plus (0.20 x 8.99) plus (0.25 x 0)], which equals 63 x 5.57 or about 350.91 dollars. Check current rates since 2025 carriers implemented increases summarized by FedEx and Pitney Bowes on UPS.

• Returns and chargebacks. If returns are 10 percent with full refunds and you cannot resell 20 percent of returned goods at full price, the revenue hit is about 428.40 dollars, then deduct recovered resale. Add a small reserve for disputes at 15 dollars per chargeback based on Stripe’s chargeback fee reference.

Fixed and semi fixed monthly costs

• Platform. 39 dollars per month on Basic per Shopify’s pricing. POS Pro, if you add advanced in store features, is 89 dollars per month per location per Shopify POS pricing.

• Apps. Email at 20 dollars per Klaviyo’s entry plan, plus 30 dollars for reviews, plus 20 to 40 dollars for a shipping or pickup tool if you go beyond Shopify’s free local delivery. Budget 70 to 120 dollars until you have a lean stack dialed in.

• Managed service. If you use a partner like StoreStudio that bundles design, setup, and ongoing support, factor the agreed service fee and consider what it replaces in app subscriptions, freelancer time, and avoidable mistakes. Many retailers find a managed service lowers total cost of ownership because it avoids app sprawl and accelerates the path to working automation.

Pulling it together

Using the assumptions above, contribution after variable costs might look like this. From 4,284 dollars in revenue, subtract payments 143 dollars, packaging 57 dollars, shipping and delivery 351 dollars, and a returns reserve 428 dollars before resales. That leaves about 3,305 dollars before fixed costs and cost of goods. Deduct 39 dollars for platform and about 100 dollars for apps. If your average product margin after cost of goods is 50 percent, you can estimate profit contribution and see if this scale fits your goals.

What if you improve one or two levers? A one point lift in conversion from speed improvements and better product photos, which is consistent with the 0.1 second speed gains tied to conversion improvements quantified by Deloitte, turns 63 monthly orders into 98 orders at the same 3,500 sessions. Keeping AOV at 68 dollars, revenue becomes 6,664 dollars. Even with proportionally higher payment and shipping costs, your fixed platform and app costs are unchanged. That operating leverage is why conversion work and lean site performance matter so much.

How local delivery and pickup change the math

Local customers often want speed more than free shipping. Two tactics that preserve margin are scheduled local delivery and buy online pickup in store. Shopify’s own local delivery configuration is free according to Shopify’s local delivery page, and on demand fleets like DoorDash Drive or Uber Direct provide per delivery pricing as low as 6.99 to 10.99 dollars and 7.99 dollars respectively, referenced at DoorDash Drive and Uber Direct. If you can set a free delivery threshold that lines up with a healthy gross margin, you can lift AOV and still cover the courier fee. For BOPIS, there is no courier cost at all, and many shoppers add extra items when they arrive for pickup. BOPIS continues to grow faster than ecommerce overall according to Capital One Shopping’s BOPIS overview, which is another signal to enable it even if you are not ready for delivery on day one.

Inventory synchronization and order accuracy

Out of stock cancellations are conversion killers. Real time inventory sync between your physical location and online store prevents overselling, keeps pickup promises, and avoids painful make goods. Shopify outlines the concept of real time updates across locations and channels in its guide to inventory management and POS, summarized in Shopify’s inventory page and POS features. If you prefer not to wire this together yourself, StoreStudio includes inventory synchronization in its standard setup so that online quantities follow store reality.

A lean budget template you can copy and adjust

You can build a quick planning sheet using the following categories and fill in your own numbers.

• Platform and domain. Shopify Basic 39 dollars per month plus 11 to 14 dollars per year for a .com domain per Shopify’s guidance.

• Payment fees. Assume 3.0 to 3.2 percent plus 0.30 dollars until you have actual processor data. Add a small reserve for disputes based on the 15 dollar fee discussed by Stripe.

• Apps. Start around 70 to 120 dollars for email, reviews, labels, or booking tools. Keep a short list to avoid app sprawl, a point echoed by industry stats that many stores use about six apps as mentioned in Uptek’s summary.

• Shipping and delivery. Use your historical package sizes to estimate an average label cost and update it quarterly as carriers adjust. Consider scheduled local delivery to preserve margin on nearby orders, referencing the per order pricing noted by DoorDash and Uber.

• Packaging and handling. Start with 0.50 to 2.00 dollars per order based on examples like Shippo’s box cost breakdown. Tweak once you settle on mailers, boxes, and inserts.

• Returns. Assume 10 to 15 percent until your category specific rate emerges from real orders. Calibrate using NRF’s reference points in its returns research.

• Marketing. If you plan to experiment with paid search, anchor starter CPCs around 1 dollar to 1.20 dollars for Shopping and Retail as summarized by Business of Apps. Combine with email and organic to keep acquisition costs manageable.

Where a managed service saves time and reduces risk

The unseen cost in small retail ecommerce is not only money. It is time spent debugging themes, reconciling inventory, and wrangling delivery coordination. A managed, productized service like StoreStudio is designed to compress the entire journey from product list to first order. The service includes brand aligned design, a full store build, inventory synchronization, and local delivery configuration out of the box, with ongoing support so you are not stuck when carriers update rates or an app changes its permissions. If you want to know whether your catalog and area are a fit, reach out through the contact page. The team’s social proof, such as thousands of stores and millions of products handled across dozens of industries, gives small retailers confidence to move quickly without worrying about technical debt later.

Practical pitfalls to avoid when going online

• Forgetting to budget for payment and returns. If you only model product margin and ignore 3 percent processing and a double digit returns rate, profitability will disappoint.

• Over installing apps. Many features overlap. Keep it lean and only add tools when you know the revenue lever they pull.

• Ignoring speed. A bloated theme costs you orders. Deloitte’s research on speed and conversion at a 0.1 second level is a reminder to pick fast templates, compress images, and pass Core Web Vitals.

• Not enabling pickup or local delivery. Local options can offset rising carrier rates highlighted by FedEx and UPS, while increasing customer satisfaction.

• Skipping inventory sync. Overselling is avoidable with the real time controls described in Shopify’s inventory guide.

Taking a 100 product catalog online in 2025 is not a gamble if you plan the known costs, use realistic conversion and AOV benchmarks, and keep operations simple. Align platform, payments, delivery, and inventory so your team runs one consistent playbook. If you want help executing that playbook in about two weeks without wrangling plugins and settings, talk to StoreStudio about their turnkey setup for local retailers. You will launch faster, sidestep common pitfalls, and start capturing online demand with a cost structure you can actually scale.