You sell via Instagram DMs, you note orders on WhatsApp, and at some point things can no longer be run by hand. This is exactly when setting up an e-commerce site comes up; but the answers online to "how much does it cost, which platform, how long does it take" vary wildly. In this guide, we walk through, in order, the real decisions, real cost items and the process that works in practice when opening an online store in Turkey as of 2026.
Decide First: Marketplace or Your Own Site?
Marketplaces like Trendyol and Hepsiburada offer ready-made traffic, but at a price: commissions, price competition and customers who belong to the platform rather than to you. Your own site gives you full control over your brand and customer data; in return, you have to bring in the traffic yourself. For most businesses the right answer is both: visibility on marketplaces, profit margin and loyal customers on your own site. This article covers the second leg: setting up your own e-commerce site.
Platform Options for Building an E-commerce Site
1. Ready-made hosted platforms. Turkey has many local hosted e-commerce platforms; you pay a monthly or yearly fee, and payment and shipping integrations come built in. They need no technical knowledge and launch quickly. The limit is that design and feature flexibility is restricted by the plan.
2. Shopify. The most widely used hosted platform worldwide. Its app ecosystem is huge and the interface is simple. In Turkey, local payment and shipping integrations require extra apps; the subscription fee billed in foreign currency should also be taken into account.
3. WooCommerce. An open-source solution built on WordPress. No license fee, very high flexibility, and plugins available for payment systems and shipping companies in Turkey. In return, you (or your agency) are responsible for hosting, security and updates. You can find a detailed comparison of the two platforms in our Shopify or WooCommerce article.
4. Custom software. For large projects with thousands of products, ERP integration and multiple languages. Its cost and timeline are many times higher than the others; it isn't necessary for your first store.
The Real Cost Items
The cost of an e-commerce site isn't a single figure but the sum of several items. Setup and design: at FG Production, e-commerce sites start from 25.000₺ (excluding VAT); this includes theme customisation, product category structure, payment and shipping integration, and basic SEO settings. Domain and hosting: paid annually, varying with product count and traffic. Payment infrastructure: for a virtual POS, you sign a contract with a bank or payment provider; a commission is charged per transaction. Shipping agreement: a corporate agreement gets you far better rates than individual shipments. Product photography: the most neglected item, yet the one that affects sales most; we cover the details in our product photography guide. Marketing: once the site is live, traffic won't come unless you set aside a monthly budget for Meta and Google ads.
Legal Requirements
To sell online in Turkey you must be a registered taxpayer, and your site must include texts such as a distance sales agreement, a preliminary information form, and return and privacy policies. A KVKK (personal data protection) disclosure notice and a cookie policy are also mandatory. Have these texts prepared with a financial advisor and, if needed, a lawyer; copying template texts as-is will cause problems later. Switching to an e-invoice or e-archive invoice system also becomes necessary for most businesses.
How Does the Process Work?
1. Discovery and planning. Product count, category structure, target audience and competitor sites are reviewed; the platform decision is made here. 2. Design. Designs for the homepage, category, product and checkout pages are submitted for approval. 3. Setup and integration. Payments, shipping, invoicing and, if any, inventory software are connected. 4. Content entry. Product photos, descriptions and prices are uploaded; this is usually the longest stage, and content readiness determines the timeline. 5. Testing and launch. Test orders, the returns flow and mobile payments are tested with a real card. We have an approval process for each editing and development step; approved work goes onto the publishing schedule, and an average e-commerce project goes live within a few weeks if the content is ready.
After Launch: Conversion and Maintenance
The job isn't over just because the site is live. In the first months you need to track and fix carts abandoned at checkout, steps where mobile users get stuck, and behaviour on product pages. We gathered tactics for this in our e-commerce conversion rate article. Security updates and backups are also part of monthly maintenance.
Planned properly, an e-commerce site becomes your business's most efficient sales channel. At FG Production, we run the entire process with a single team — from platform selection and product photography to the site and ad management. Check out our e-commerce package or contact us, and we'll send you a quote tailored to your needs within 24 hours.