How to Start an E-Commerce Website in Singapore (2025 Guide)

The three most viable options for Singapore businesses are Shopify, WooCommerce, and custom-built stores. Each has clear strengths and trade-offs.

Shopify

Best for: Businesses that want to launch fast with minimal technical hassle. Shopify handles hosting, security, and updates automatically.

• Pricing: From USD 39/month (Basic) to USD 399/month (Advanced). Transaction fees of 2.0–2.9% + 30¢ per transaction unless you use Shopify Payments
• Pros: Easiest to set up, app ecosystem for almost any feature, built-in payment processing, reliable uptime
• Cons: Monthly fees add up, transaction fees eat into margins, limited customisation without paid apps, you don't own the code

WooCommerce (WordPress)

Best for: Businesses that need more flexibility or already have a WordPress site they want to add a shop to.

• Pricing: Free plugin, but you pay for hosting (SGD 15–100/month), premium plugins, and developer time
• Pros: Full control over code and design, no transaction fees from the platform, huge plugin library, own your data completely
• Cons: Requires more maintenance, security is your responsibility, performance depends on hosting and plugin choices, updates can break things

Custom-Built (Astro, Next.js, headless)

Best for: Businesses with unique requirements, high traffic volume, or a need for blazing-fast performance that templates can't deliver.

• Pricing: SGD 8,000–30,000+ upfront development cost, lower ongoing costs
• Pros: Complete design freedom, best performance, no platform dependency, scales to any volume
• Cons: Highest upfront cost, longer development timeline, need a capable developer for changes

Our recommendation: If you're selling under 100 products and want speed-to-market, start with Shopify. If you need customisation and plan to scale, WooCommerce or custom-built gives you more room to grow.

Your payment gateway directly affects conversion rates. Singapore shoppers expect fast, familiar options. Offer too few and they leave. The key payment methods to support:

• Credit and debit cards — Visa, Mastercard, AMEX (still the most used)
• PayNow — Singapore's national QR payment system. Fast, free for consumers, low fees for merchants. Essential for local trust
• GrabPay — Popular among younger demographics, widely adopted in Singapore
• Apple Pay and Google Pay — Mobile wallet payments for quick checkout on phones
• Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) — Atome, Pace, ShopBack PayLater. Can increase average order value by 20–30%

Top payment processors

Stripe Singapore: 3.4% + SGD 0.50 per transaction. Clean API, supports all card types. Best for custom integrations.

HitPay: From 2.6% per transaction. Built in Singapore, supports PayNow, GrabPay, cards. Excellent Shopify integration. No monthly fee on starter plan.

PayPal: 3.9% + SGD 0.50. Familiar to international buyers, but high fees. Good to offer as an option, not the only gateway.

Shopify Payments: 2.0–2.9% + 30¢. Only for Shopify stores. Removes Shopify's additional transaction fee, making it the logical default on that platform.

Key insight: Offering PayNow alongside card payments typically increases checkout completion by 10–15% for Singapore customers. It's fast, trusted, and feels local.

Singapore is small enough that next-day delivery is the baseline expectation, not a perk. Same-day delivery is increasingly common. Here's how to set up logistics:

Shipping options

• Ninja Van: The go-to for most Singapore e-commerce SMEs. Affordable, reliable tracking, API integration for order syncing. From SGD 3–5 per domestic delivery
• J&T Express: Competitive rates, good coverage across Singapore. Growing fast in the SME segment
• Qxpress: Qoo10's logistics arm, strong if you also sell on marketplaces
• Grab Express: Same-day delivery option for urgent orders. Higher cost (SGD 8–15) but fast
• Singapore Post (SingPost): Good for lightweight items. Registered mail from SGD 2.50

Fulfilment tips

• Offer free shipping above a minimum order value (SGD 50–80 is the sweet spot for most categories). This increases average order value more than it costs you in shipping
• Display estimated delivery dates on product pages, not just at checkout. Reduces cart abandonment
• Set up automated tracking notifications — order confirmed, shipped, out for delivery, delivered. Reduces "where's my order?" support tickets by 60%

Selling online in Singapore means complying with specific regulations. Don't skip these:

• Business registration: Register with ACRA. Sole proprietorship (from SGD 115/year) or Pte Ltd (SGD 315 one-time). You need a registered business to accept payments professionally
• PDPA compliance: The Personal Data Protection Act requires you to get consent before collecting customer data, explain what you'll use it for, and allow opt-outs. Your site needs a privacy policy — and not just a template you copied
• Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act: Accurate product descriptions, clear pricing (including GST), honest return policies. No bait-and-switch tactics
• GST registration: Mandatory if annual revenue exceeds SGD 1 million. Even below that threshold, voluntary registration may make sense if you buy from GST-registered suppliers
• Electronic Transactions Act: Your terms of service, privacy policy, and return policy must be clearly accessible on your website. This isn't just good practice — it's the law

Common oversight: Many businesses forget to display the GST-inclusive price. Since 2024, Singapore law requires the displayed price to be the total payable amount including GST. Showing a price and adding GST at checkout is non-compliant.

Here's an honest breakdown of what a new e-commerce store in Singapore typically costs in the first year:

Shopify route: SGD 2,000–8,000/year (platform fees + apps + domain + product photography).

Custom-built route: SGD 10,000–25,000 (development + hosting + domain + photography).

The Shopify route is cheaper upfront but accumulates costs monthly. The custom route costs more initially but has lower recurring expenses. For a business planning to sell for 3+ years, custom often wins on total cost of ownership.

Don't forget ongoing costs that apply to both: payment processing fees (2–3.4% per transaction), shipping costs, marketing budget (SGD 500–2,000/month for ads), and potential maintenance or update costs.

Not sure what your website build should cost? Our free website cost estimator gives you an instant ballpark based on Singapore market rates.

After building dozens of e-commerce sites for Singapore businesses, these are the mistakes we see repeatedly:

1. Skipping mobile optimisation — Over 70% of online shopping in Singapore happens on phones. If your product pages are hard to browse on mobile, you're losing the majority of potential sales
2. Poor product photography — Stock photos and phone snaps don't sell products. Invest in proper product photography with white backgrounds, lifestyle shots, and multiple angles
3. No SEO strategy from day one — If your product pages have no meta titles, no structured descriptions, and no keyword targeting, Google won't send you traffic. SEO should be built into the site from launch, not bolted on later
4. Overcomplicating the checkout — Every extra step in checkout reduces conversions by 5–10%. Enable guest checkout, minimise form fields, and auto-fill where possible
5. Ignoring site speed — A 1-second delay in page load time reduces conversions by 7%. Compress images, use a CDN, and test your site speed regularly
6. No return policy — Singapore consumers expect clear return policies. Having none makes people hesitant to buy. Even a strict policy is better than no policy