E-Commerce Website Design in Singapore

Ecommerce website design in Singapore typically costs between SGD 5,000 and SGD 25,000 depending on the number of products, platform choice, and custom features required. A basic Shopify or WooCommerce store with under 50 products starts around SGD 5,000–8,000, while custom-built stores with advanced filtering, membership areas, or multi-currency support can exceed SGD 15,000. At TerrisDigital, we provide transparent fixed-price quotes after a free consultation so there are no surprises.

Shopify is better if you want a fully hosted, low-maintenance solution with built-in payment processing and easy inventory management — ideal for business owners who want simplicity. WooCommerce is better if you need deeper customisation, own your data fully, and want lower ongoing subscription costs, though it requires more technical upkeep. TerrisDigital builds on both platforms and recommends the right fit based on your product range, budget, and growth plans.

A standard ecommerce website takes 6 to 10 weeks from kickoff to launch, covering strategy, design, development, product upload, and testing. Larger stores with hundreds of products, custom features, or complex integrations like ERP or warehouse systems may take 10 to 14 weeks. Rush timelines are possible for simpler stores but can affect the depth of customisation.

For most Singapore SMEs, Shopify and WooCommerce are the top choices. Shopify is easiest to manage and has excellent local payment gateway support including PayNow, GrabPay, and Stripe. WooCommerce offers more flexibility and lower recurring costs but requires WordPress hosting. For larger catalogues with complex inventory needs, Magento or custom solutions may be more suitable.

You can set up a basic Shopify store yourself using templates, but it will likely look generic and miss conversion optimisation best practices. A professional designer ensures your store has a custom look, optimised product pages, streamlined checkout flow, and proper SEO setup — all of which directly impact sales. TerrisDigital builds Shopify stores that are designed to convert, not just display products.

To accept PayNow and GrabPay on your online store, you need to integrate a local payment gateway like Stripe Singapore, PayNow via DBS/OCBC APIs, or Hitpay which bundles multiple local payment methods. Shopify supports these through its payments settings, while WooCommerce requires a compatible plugin. The setup is straightforward but needs to be configured correctly to avoid checkout errors and abandoned carts.

A successful ecommerce website needs fast page load speeds under 3 seconds, mobile-responsive design, high-quality product photography, clear product descriptions, a streamlined checkout process with minimal steps, trust signals like reviews and secure payment badges, and SEO-friendly URLs and metadata. TerrisDigital builds all of these into every store as standard, along with analytics tracking to measure performance from day one.

Yes. Singapore has one of the highest ecommerce penetration rates in Southeast Asia, with over 80% of consumers shopping online. Even small businesses benefit from 24/7 sales capability, lower overhead compared to physical retail, and the ability to reach customers across Singapore and internationally. The initial investment typically pays for itself within a few months of consistent sales.

The average ecommerce conversion rate is 1–3%, but well-optimised stores achieve 3–5% or higher. Key improvements include reducing page load time, simplifying the checkout process to fewer steps, adding social proof like customer reviews, offering local payment methods Singaporeans trust, using high-quality product images, and implementing abandoned cart email recovery. At TerrisDigital, conversion optimisation is built into our design process from the start.

Yes, but it requires careful planning. A successful platform migration involves setting up proper 301 redirects from all old URLs to new ones, preserving meta titles and descriptions, maintaining your site structure where possible, and resubmitting your sitemap to Google Search Console. TerrisDigital handles full ecommerce migrations and monitors rankings closely after the switch to catch and resolve any issues quickly.

PDPA compliance for ecommerce websites requires a clear privacy policy explaining how customer data is collected and used, proper consent mechanisms before collecting personal data, secure storage and handling of customer information, a cookie consent notice, and a process for customers to request data access or deletion. These requirements apply to all businesses collecting personal data in Singapore, regardless of size.

Marketplaces like Shopee and Lazada give you instant traffic but charge commissions of 5–15% per sale, limit your branding, and give you no control over customer data or the shopping experience. Your own ecommerce website costs more upfront but gives you full control over branding, customer relationships, and margins with zero commission fees. The best strategy for most Singapore businesses is to sell on both — use marketplaces for volume and your own store for brand building and higher margins.