How long it takes to build an online shop
Development time is almost never what delays an opening. It is approval rounds, the catalogue that does not arrive and third-party accounts under review. Knowing where the weeks really go lets you shorten the timeline where that is possible, rather than pressing the one part that is already moving.
The critical path is not the code
On a shop project three things run in parallel: what I do, what you produce, and what third parties process. Total duration is that of the slowest of the three, not the sum. And the slowest is rarely the first.
Configuring a platform, installing a theme, wiring payment and shipping modules, setting up VAT rules: that is days, not weeks. What takes weeks is building a clean catalogue, obtaining usable photographs, having mock-ups approved by several people, and waiting for an account to open at a payment provider.
The practical consequence is counter-intuitive: speeding up a project rarely means asking the developer to work faster. It means starting the external processes on day one and naming one single person empowered to approve.
What actually pushes an opening back
- The catalogue arrives late, or in a format that blocks importing. This is cause number one, by a distance.
- Photographs are missing, or exist only at small size recovered from an old site. A new shoot is a project in itself.
- Approval runs through several people who disagree with each other. Every extra approval round adds days, sometimes more than the work itself.
- The payment account is still under review. No amount of development compensates for that delay; it belongs to nobody on the project.
- The carrier account, joining a pickup point network, or obtaining labelling credentials.
- Legal text is not ready, although it gates the launch of any distance selling shop.
- A new request appears mid-course and changes scope. That is legitimate, but it counts in days, not in goodwill.
Five decisions that save weeks
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Start the external processes on day one
Distance selling contract, carrier account, pickup network membership: these are processed while the site is built. Starting them once the site is ready adds their duration to the end of the project instead of hiding it.
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Name one contact empowered to decide
Not a committee. One person who can say yes. It is the most effective lever on overall timeline, and it costs nothing.
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Fix the catalogue format before filling it
A column added after two thousand rows are typed means two thousand cells to complete. The format is fixed on day one, even if the content arrives later.
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Open with a reduced, deliberate scope
One carrier, one payment method, fifty complete records. The rest is added later, on a site that already sells. Opening later has never made a project better.
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Treat legal text as a dated deliverable
With an owner and a deadline, exactly like the catalogue. Otherwise it arrives the night before and gets copied from elsewhere, which makes it inaccurate.
Related pages
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Emergency e-commerce repair
Where urgency is real: a live shop that has stopped selling.
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Scoping a requirement
How to describe what you expect so an estimate can hold.
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Pre-migration checklist
What must be ready before a cutover, and in what order.
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Preparing a major update
The same scheduling reasoning applied to a version step.
Frequently asked questions
Why will you not quote a firm number of weeks?
Can we open faster by reducing scope?
How long does a catalogue migration take?
Do approval rounds really cost that much?
What if a commercial date is imposed?
Describe your need in one minute
A few targeted questions so I can reply with an estimate rather than another questionnaire.