On This
Where most businesses start
When someone is building their first online store in Nepal, the choice usually comes down to cost. Shopify or WooCommerce feels safe — low upfront, quick to launch, no developer needed. That thinking makes sense at the beginning.
The real cost of a template store
The base plan looks affordable. But a store that's actually running — with proper filters, email tools, checkout improvements, and analytics — ends up costing Rs 13,000–26,000 a month in platform and app fees, before transaction fees on every order.
Over three years, that's Rs 5–9 lakhs. For a platform you don't own and can't fully control.
Where templates work well
If you're testing a new idea, have fewer than 50 products, or need to be live within a few weeks — a template is a reasonable starting point. Move fast, learn what works, and build something more permanent once you have real data.
What custom development actually gives you
A custom store in Nepal in 2026 costs roughly Rs 2.5–6.5 lakhs to build, depending on what you need. After that, you're paying hosting — Rs 5,000–12,000 a month — and nothing else.
More importantly, you get a checkout built for how Nepali customers actually buy. eSewa and Khalti working natively, not through a plugin that breaks during a sale. Zone-based delivery pricing that reflects actual courier costs. A mobile experience designed around your customers, not adapted from a global template.
The conversion difference matters more than most businesses expect. Moving from a 1.2% conversion rate to 2.5% on 2,000 monthly visitors and a Rs 3,000 average order value is roughly Rs 78,000 in additional revenue every month. That covers the investment faster than it sounds.
How to think about the decision
Templates make sense when you're starting out, moving fast, or working with a limited budget. Custom makes sense when you have real sales, care about conversion, and want to stop paying monthly fees for a platform you'll eventually need to replace anyway.
Most businesses we've worked with that made the switch did so later than they should have — not because the decision was unclear, but because migration felt like a bigger disruption than staying put. It rarely is, once you're on the other side of it.
A question worth sitting with
If your platform disappeared tomorrow and you had to rebuild, would you build the same thing again?
We work with Nepali businesses on eCommerce platforms built around how things actually work here — local payments, mobile-first checkout, delivery logic that reflects Nepal's geography. If you're thinking through this decision and want a straightforward conversation, we're at [email protected] or quarkinfotech.com.
— Quark Infotech
