E-commerce development that drives sales

Shopify is easier to manage day-to-day, provides stronger out-of-box security, and handles hosting and updates for you, making it ideal for businesses that want a hands-off technical experience. WooCommerce offers more flexibility and lower ongoing costs since there are no monthly platform fees, but it requires more technical management. The best choice depends on your product catalogue complexity, budget, technical comfort, and long-term growth plans. We walk you through the trade-offs and recommend the platform that genuinely fits your New Zealand business.

Yes, we handle e-commerce migrations from virtually any platform, including transferring products, customer accounts, order history, and preserving SEO rankings through proper redirects. We plan every migration carefully to minimise disruption to your business, often running the new store in parallel on a staging environment until everything is tested and ready. Data integrity is verified at every step so you do not lose product information, customer records, or search engine visibility during the transition.

Yes, we regularly integrate e-commerce stores with Xero, MYOB, and other accounting systems used by New Zealand businesses. These integrations automatically sync orders, payments, refunds, and inventory data so your books stay accurate without manual data entry. We can also set up GST-inclusive pricing rules and tax code mapping specific to New Zealand requirements. For businesses processing high order volumes, these accounting integrations save hours of reconciliation work every week.

We integrate with NZ Post, Courier Post, Aramex, and other carriers to provide your customers with real-time shipping rates, tracking numbers, and delivery estimates at checkout. These integrations can be configured to offer different shipping tiers such as standard and express, free shipping thresholds, and rural delivery surcharges that reflect the realities of New Zealand logistics. We also set up automated shipping label generation and fulfilment notifications to streamline your dispatch process.

E-commerce development costs depend on platform choice, product catalogue size, and integration complexity. Across the New Zealand market, a well-built Shopify store with New Zealand payment and shipping integrations typically starts around $8,000, with WooCommerce custom builds in a similar range. Complex stores (B2B pricing, product configurators, multi-warehouse inventory) sit higher. Lucid Media provides detailed, fixed-price quotes after a free discovery call with clear breakdowns so you know exactly what you are investing in.

Most e-commerce development projects take 6-12 weeks from kickoff to launch, depending on the number of products, integrations, and custom features required. This timeline includes platform setup, design implementation, payment and shipping integration, product loading, and thorough testing of the full purchase flow. We always allow time for real-world testing with actual transactions before going live to ensure everything works smoothly for your New Zealand customers on launch day.

Yes, we set up all payment methods that New Zealand shoppers expect and trust, including Stripe, Windcave (formerly Payment Express), Afterpay, Laybuy, POLi, and direct bank transfer. We configure these with proper NZD handling, GST display, and secure checkout flows. The options you offer at checkout matter, because New Zealand shoppers are more likely to complete a purchase when they see payment brands they recognise and trust.

Yes, every e-commerce project includes comprehensive training covering product management, order processing, inventory updates, running promotions and discount codes, and interpreting your sales analytics. We tailor the training to your team and provide written documentation you can reference later. Our goal is for you to feel completely confident managing your store day-to-day without needing developer assistance for routine tasks. If questions come up later, our support packages provide ongoing help when you need it.