Best ecommerce platforms for small business: UK costs, features, and SEO

When you’re starting out, picking the best ecommerce platform for your small business usually boils down to one key decision: do you go with Shopify's all-in-one simplicity or WooCommerce's deep customisation?

For most UK startups that want to get up and running quickly, Shopify is often the path of least resistance. On the other hand, if you’ve already got a WordPress site or have very specific technical requirements, WooCommerce gives you the flexibility you need. It really comes down to your budget, how comfortable you are with the technical side of things, and what your plans are for the future.

Navigating Your Ecommerce Platform Options

Choosing the right ecommerce platform is one of those foundational decisions that will stick with you for years. It's not just a digital shopfront; it’s the engine that drives your sales, keeps track of your stock, and shapes the entire customer experience. Get this right, and it sets the stage for everything from your day-to-day operations to your ability to grow.

The UK ecommerce scene is absolutely thriving. With online sales predicted to make up 38.1% of the UK's total retail sales, powered by a market of roughly 62.1 million people, the opportunity is massive. More than half of all transactions happen on a mobile device, so having a slick, mobile-friendly platform isn't just a nice-to-have anymore—it's essential for survival.

What Really Matters for Small Businesses

It’s easy to get bogged down in a long list of features when comparing platforms. My advice? Strip it back and focus on the handful of things that will genuinely impact your success.

• Ease of Use: How much of your day will be spent wrestling with the platform versus actually growing your business? You want an interface that feels intuitive and makes managing products straightforward.
• Total Cost of Ownership: Don’t just look at the monthly price tag. You need to account for transaction fees, the cost of any apps or plugins, and potential developer help to get the full picture of your investment.
• Scalability: Will the platform keep up as you go from 10 orders a month to 1,000? Think about how well it handles more traffic, a bigger product catalogue, and more complex operations.
• Integration Ecosystem: Your online shop doesn’t exist in a silo. It needs to talk to your marketing tools, your accounting software, and your shipping providers. Make sure those connections are easy to set up.

To give you a clearer idea, here’s a quick breakdown of how the two main types of platforms stack up for small businesses here in the UK.

Feature Consideration	Hosted (e.g., Shopify, Wix)	Self-Hosted (e.g., WooCommerce)
Initial Setup	Quick and guided. You don't need to be a tech whiz.	You'll need to buy hosting and set it up yourself.
Maintenance	The platform handles all the updates and security.	It's all on you—updates, security, and backups.
Customisation	You get good options but have to work within their rules.	The sky's the limit. You have full control over the code.
Support	Usually comes with 24/7 dedicated support.	You’ll rely on community forums or have to hire a developer.

At the end of the day, the choice between a hosted solution like Shopify and a self-hosted one like WooCommerce is where most businesses start. To help you make the right call, check out our guide on the key differences between Shopify and WooCommerce in 2024.

Comparing The Top Ecommerce Platforms Side-By-Side

Choosing the right ecommerce platform feels like a massive decision, and honestly, it is. It's not just about picking the one with the slickest marketing. The real decider is in the details – the core features, the hidden costs, and how it will support you as you grow. Get it right, and it's a launchpad; get it wrong, and it's a constant headache. So, let's put the main contenders head-to-head and see how they really stack up for UK businesses.

The UK's online market is booming. You don't need me to tell you that, but the numbers really drive it home. The stats below show just how fast the market is growing and how critical mobile shopping has become. This isn't just background noise; it's the context for your entire decision.

What this data makes crystal clear is that your platform absolutely must deliver a flawless mobile experience. It’s not a nice-to-have anymore. Your store needs to be optimised for how UK customers are actually shopping right now.

To make things clearer, let's break down the key players in a simple table before we dive into the nitty-gritty details.

UK Ecommerce Platform Feature and Cost Comparison

Platform	Pricing Model	Ease of Use	Key Features	Best For
Shopify	Monthly Subscription + Transaction Fees	Very High	Massive app store, user-friendly interface, excellent POS integration.	Startups and scaling businesses prioritising ease of use and a vast ecosystem.
BigCommerce	Monthly Subscription (No Transaction Fees on its own)	High	Powerful built-in features, advanced product options, multi-channel selling.	Businesses with complex catalogues and a desire to minimise app reliance.
WooCommerce	Free Plugin (Requires Paid Hosting)	Moderate	Total customisation, full data ownership, huge community.	Tech-savvy owners who want ultimate control and already use WordPress.
Wix	Monthly Subscription	Very High	Drag-and-drop editor, 900+ templates, strong built-in marketing tools.	Brand-focused businesses that want an all-in-one website and store builder.
Squarespace	Monthly Subscription	Very High	Award-winning design templates, great for visual brands and digital products.	Artists, designers, and service providers where aesthetics are paramount.

This table gives you a bird's-eye view, but the best choice always depends on your specific situation. Now, let's unpack what these differences mean in the real world.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: The All-In-One Powerhouses

For most ambitious small businesses, the conversation starts and often ends with Shopify and BigCommerce. They are the go-to all-in-one solutions. Both are hosted platforms, which means they take care of the technical heavy lifting – security, hosting, updates – so you can just focus on selling your products.

Shopify’s main draw is its incredible simplicity and a truly massive ecosystem. With over 8,000 apps in its marketplace, you can bolt on almost any functionality you can imagine without needing to be a tech wizard. It’s famously user-friendly, making it the top choice for beginners who want to get online fast and grow without major technical hurdles. For a deeper look, it's worth checking out a practical guide to Shopify's features, pricing, and inventory which really breaks it down.

BigCommerce takes a different approach by building more powerful features directly into its core platform. Things like advanced product filtering or multi-currency selling often require a paid app on Shopify, but BigCommerce includes them out of the box. For businesses with complex needs, this can mean a much lower total cost over time.

Key Differentiator: Shopify's magic is in its unrivalled app store and intuitive design, making it incredibly flexible. BigCommerce's strength is its rich set of built-in features, which cuts down your dependency on third-party apps for essential functions.

Think of it this way: a small business selling artisanal gin could launch a beautiful Shopify store in a weekend. As they scale, they can easily add apps for a subscription box or a customer loyalty scheme. On the other hand, a company selling complex electronics with hundreds of variants might find BigCommerce more economical from day one, since it can handle all those options without tacking on extra app fees.

WooCommerce: The Self-Hosted Champion

WooCommerce is a completely different beast. It’s a free plugin that turns a WordPress website into a powerful online store. This gives you absolute control and unlimited customisation, but only if you’re comfortable managing the technical side of things. It's a self-hosted solution, which means you're in charge of arranging your own web hosting, setting up security, and running all the updates yourself.

This freedom is both its biggest strength and its greatest weakness. You own your data completely and you aren't locked into a platform's specific rules or transaction fees (you'll still pay your payment processor, of course). The trade-off? A much steeper learning curve and the ongoing responsibility of site maintenance.

• Hosting: You'll need to research, choose, and pay for a reliable hosting provider.
• Security: It's on you to install an SSL certificate and keep your site protected from threats.
• Updates: You are responsible for managing updates for WordPress, WooCommerce, and every other plugin you use.

WooCommerce is the perfect fit for a small business owner who already runs a WordPress site or someone with the technical know-how who wants to build a truly bespoke shopping experience from the ground up.

Wix and Squarespace: The Website Builder Contenders

Best known as fantastic website builders, both Wix and Squarespace have seriously upped their game by adding strong ecommerce features. Their appeal is rooted in their intuitive drag-and-drop editors and a library of stunning, professionally designed templates. They are an excellent starting point for businesses where branding and content are just as crucial as the products themselves.

Squarespace really shines for visually-driven brands – think artists, photographers, and consultants. Its templates are legendary for their clean, modern aesthetic, and it has slick, integrated tools for things like booking appointments or selling digital downloads.

Wix, on the other hand, offers more creative flexibility with over 900 templates and a less restrictive editor. It also packs a solid suite of built-in marketing and SEO tools, making it a great all-in-one option for businesses wanting to manage their website, blog, and online shop from one central dashboard.

The catch? Both can start to feel a bit restrictive for high-volume retailers. Their core ecommerce features aren't as deep as what you'd find on dedicated platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce, and their app stores are much smaller. They are brilliant for launching a beautiful store quickly but might not be the final destination for a business with complex inventory and ambitious growth plans.

Hosted vs Self-Hosted Platforms: What's the Difference?

One of the very first decisions you'll make when building your online shop is where it will "live" – on a hosted or a self-hosted platform. It might sound technical, but this choice fundamentally shapes your day-to-day work, how much control you have, and what your long-term costs look like. Getting this right from the start is crucial.

A hosted platform, often called Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), is your all-in-one solution. Think of it like renting a fully-equipped retail space in a bustling shopping centre. Your landlord (the platform provider) handles all the technical headaches: security, updates, server maintenance, and keeping the lights on. All you do is pay a straightforward monthly fee.

This approach is a godsend for business owners who want to focus purely on products and customers, not code. Leading platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce have built their empires on this model.

The Simplicity of Hosted Platforms

The biggest draw for hosted solutions is just how easy and reliable they are. You won’t wake up in a cold sweat worrying about your site crashing during a Black Friday sale or being targeted by hackers, because a dedicated team is managing it all for you. For a small business, that peace of mind is priceless.

Shopify has become a powerhouse in the UK ecommerce scene, making it a brilliant starting point for small businesses. As of this year, it holds 24% of the ecommerce software market share in the United Kingdom, second only to WooCommerce. It’s not just about market share, either—Shopify powers over 200,000 stores across the UK, giving new merchants access to a huge, proven ecosystem of apps and experts. You can explore more UK ecommerce software statistics to see the full market breakdown.

Key Takeaway: Hosted platforms trade a bit of creative freedom for a massive amount of convenience. They're the quickest and most secure way for non-technical entrepreneurs to launch a professional, scalable online store.

The Power and Control of Self-Hosted Platforms

On the other side of the fence, you have self-hosted platforms. Sticking with our property analogy, this is like buying your own plot of land and building your shop from the ground up. You have absolute freedom to build whatever you want, however you want—but you’re also the one responsible for everything from the foundations (your hosting server) to the alarm system (security).

The undisputed king of self-hosted ecommerce is WooCommerce, a free plugin that cleverly turns a WordPress website into a powerful online store. With this route, you’re in the driver’s seat. You’ll need to choose a hosting provider, install security measures, and manually run all software updates.

The payoff for this extra work is total customisation. You can dig into your store's code, you truly own all of your data, and you won't pay platform-specific transaction fees. This path, however, requires a certain level of technical confidence or the budget to have a developer on standby.

How to Choose Your Path

Ultimately, the decision boils down to a classic trade-off: control versus convenience. Neither option is inherently "better"—the right choice is the one that fits your specific skills, budget, and ambitions.

Here’s a practical way to break it down:

• Go with a Hosted platform if: You want to get selling fast, value ease of use, and need predictable monthly costs. You'd rather spend your time on marketing and sales than on technical maintenance, and you want 24/7 support just a click away.
• Go with a Self-Hosted platform if: You already have a WordPress site, need very specific or complex customisations, or want 100% ownership of your data and code. This is for you if you're technically skilled or have the resources to hire help for ongoing maintenance and security.

For example, a boutique clothing brand wanting a stylish store up and running in a week would thrive on Shopify's slick setup. In contrast, a business selling highly-configurable, custom-made furniture might need the limitless flexibility of WooCommerce to build a unique product configurator. In that case, the extra management is well worth it. Take a clear look at your resources and your vision for the future, and the right path will become obvious.

How Your Platform Choice Impacts SEO and Sales

It’s easy to think of your ecommerce platform as just a digital shopfront, but it’s so much more than that. It’s the engine under the bonnet—the technical foundation that has a direct say in whether you attract visitors and, crucially, whether they actually buy anything. The platform you choose directly shapes your Google rankings and your final sales figures.

Many small business owners get caught up in the design and forget about the technical nuts and bolts. But a platform that’s slow, a nightmare for search engines to crawl, or has a clunky checkout will actively sabotage your growth, no matter how fantastic your products are.

Driving Traffic with Built-In SEO Features

The best ecommerce platforms come with tools that give you real control over how your site shows up on search engines. If your platform’s native SEO capabilities are weak, you’re basically invisible to the vast majority of potential customers who are searching on Google for products just like yours.

Let’s look at how three of the biggest players—Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce—handle this, because their approaches are quite different.

• Shopify: Makes on-page SEO incredibly straightforward. Editing meta titles, descriptions, and image alt text is simple, even if you’re not technical at all. The trade-off? Its URL structure is a bit rigid, forcing directories like /collections/ or /products/ that you can’t get rid of.

• BigCommerce: Offers the same easy-to-use meta tag editing but gives you more freedom to control your URL structures. For businesses in really competitive niches, that small bit of extra control can make a real difference.

• WooCommerce: As a WordPress plugin, it gives you almost unlimited SEO control. Pair it with a tool like Yoast SEO, and you can tweak everything from advanced schema markup to full URL customisation. Of course, all that power means you're responsible for managing it all yourself.

Your platform’s site speed is a major ranking factor for Google. Hosted platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce invest heavily in optimised, global servers (CDNs) to ensure fast loading times, which can give them an edge over a poorly configured self-hosted WooCommerce site.

For a deeper look into optimisation, you can check out our guide on essential SEO best practices to get more traffic to your ecommerce store.

Maximising Sales with Conversion-Focused Design

Once you’ve got people on your site, the next job is to turn them into paying customers. This is where Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) comes in, and your platform’s checkout process is absolutely vital. A confusing or untrustworthy checkout is one of the top reasons people abandon their shopping carts.

Your tech choices here have a real impact on your bottom line. Digital wallet use among UK consumers has hit 35%, making it the second most popular payment method right after debit cards. With the average order value in the UK climbing by 7% year-on-year, a slick payment process is essential to capture those bigger sales. Retailers who nail their checkout—by adding one-tap wallets, for example—often see an immediate uplift in conversions.

Platforms like Shopify have poured billions into perfecting their single-page checkout for speed and trust, and every merchant on the platform benefits from that. On the other hand, WooCommerce gives you the keys to build a completely custom checkout experience from the ground up, but that requires a lot of careful planning and testing to get right. Beyond the tech, it all comes down to the user’s journey; understanding How to Improve Ecommerce Customer Experience and Drive Growth is the key to building lasting loyalty and sales.

Planning for Growth and When to Hire an Expert

Choosing your first ecommerce platform is a big decision, but what happens when your business starts to take off? The platform that felt perfect when you were managing ten orders a week will start to creak and groan when you're suddenly handling a thousand. Thinking about that future growth right from the start saves a world of pain later on.

It’s a familiar story. You start outgrowing the standard features, and before you know it, you're relying on a dozen different apps to handle subscriptions, loyalty schemes, and international pricing. This patchwork solution often slows your site to a crawl and makes the back end a nightmare to manage. That's your cue that it's time to look at a more powerful setup.

Recognising the Triggers for an Upgrade

For most growing businesses, the typical next step is moving from a standard plan, like Shopify, to an enterprise-level platform like Shopify Plus or BigCommerce Enterprise. This isn't just a small bump up; it’s a strategic leap designed for high-volume sales and complex operations. So, how do you know you're ready?

A few key signs usually pop up:

• Hitting a sales ceiling: When your annual turnover starts nudging the limits of your current plan, it’s a clear signal that you've got the momentum to justify an upgrade.
• Operational bottlenecks: Is your team drowning in manual tasks like order processing or updating inventory across different channels? You’ve outgrown your system.
• Needing deeper customisation: You want to completely overhaul your checkout or build a unique feature on your site, but your current platform’s restrictions are holding you back.

Upgrading to a platform like Shopify Plus isn't just about handling more traffic. It’s about unlocking exclusive tools like Shopify Flow for automation, a customisable checkout, and dedicated support—all things that are essential for scaling efficiently.

When to Bring in Professional Help

Many founders are brilliant at getting their stores off the ground, but there's a point where the DIY approach stops being a cost-saver and starts becoming a liability. Partnering with a specialist ecommerce agency is an investment in expertise that frees you up to actually run your business. You wouldn’t rewire your own house; the same thinking applies here.

Hiring an expert becomes a necessity when you’re facing high-stakes challenges. These are the moments that demand specialist knowledge to avoid costly mistakes that could damage your revenue and, just as importantly, your customers' trust.

Scenarios Demanding Expert Intervention

Knowing when to call in the professionals can be the difference between hitting a plateau and accelerating your growth. Some tasks are just too complex and risky to handle in-house.

Critical tasks for an agency:

1. Complex Data Migrations: Moving your entire store – products, customers, and order history – to a new platform is a minefield. An expert ensures no data gets lost and, crucially, that your hard-won SEO rankings are protected during the transition.
2. Custom Feature Development: If you need something that an off-the-shelf app can't provide, like a sophisticated product customiser or a bespoke wholesale portal, a development agency can build it from the ground up.
3. Deep System Integrations: Trying to connect your store with an ERP or CRM system is a highly technical job. A professional ensures data flows seamlessly between your systems, which is vital for keeping your inventory and customer data accurate.
4. Advanced Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO): Anyone can run a simple A/B test. A specialist agency, however, uses deep data analysis and proven methodologies to make changes that can genuinely lift your conversion rates and average order value.

At the end of the day, the decision to hire help comes down to knowing where your time adds the most value. To get a better feel for the process, check out our guide on how to hire a Shopify expert for your business, which walks you through the right questions to ask and what to look for.

Your Top Ecommerce Platform Questions, Answered

Diving into the world of ecommerce can feel overwhelming. With so many options out there, it’s natural to have questions. Picking the right platform for your small business means thinking about cost, features, and how comfortable you are with the technical side of things. Let’s tackle some of the most common queries to help you make a confident choice.

Getting these fundamentals right from the start can save you a world of headaches—and money—down the line. Your platform should be a launchpad for growth, not a technical roadblock.

Which Ecommerce Platform Is the Easiest for a Complete Beginner?

For anyone just starting their online journey, the last thing you want is to be bogged down by tech. Your focus should be on your products and customers, not wrestling with code or complex back-end systems.

This is where hosted platforms like Shopify and Wix really shine. They are built from the ground up for non-technical users, offering intuitive drag-and-drop builders that make creating a professional-looking shop surprisingly straightforward. Crucially, they take care of all the behind-the-scenes work—hosting, security, and performance—so you don't have to.

Shopify, in particular, is brilliant for its guided setup. It holds your hand through every critical step, from adding your first product to setting up payments and shipping. This structured approach takes the guesswork out of the process, meaning a total novice can get a secure, fully functional store live in just a few days, or sometimes even hours.

How Much Does It Really Cost to Run an Ecommerce Store Each Month?

This is the million-dollar question for any small business owner, and the answer is rarely just the advertised subscription price. The true monthly cost depends entirely on your platform choice and the specific tools you need to run your business effectively.

If you go with a hosted platform like Shopify, your starting point is the monthly plan, which begins at around £25. On top of that, you'll have transaction fees on every sale (unless you use their in-house Shopify Payments) and potentially extra costs for premium apps or themes you choose to add.

With a self-hosted platform like WooCommerce, the core software itself is free, but you need to budget for the essentials that make it run. This includes:

• Web Hosting: A reliable provider will typically cost anywhere from £10 to £50+ a month.
• Domain Name: This is an annual cost, usually around £10-£15.
• Premium Plugins: Many key features, like advanced shipping rules or subscription models, require paid extensions.

All things considered, a realistic monthly budget for a new UK-based small business often lands somewhere between £50 and £150. This figure will naturally climb as your business grows and you invest in more advanced tools.

Can I Move My Store to a Different Platform Later On?

Yes, you can absolutely move your shop to a new platform as your business needs change. But be warned: this process, known as a platform migration, is far from a simple copy-and-paste job. It’s a complex technical undertaking that, if handled poorly, can have serious consequences.

A migration means transferring every bit of your critical business data, including:

• All product information (descriptions, images, SKUs)
• Your complete customer database (names, addresses, contact info)
• Your entire order history

While some platforms offer basic data import/export tools, they're often clunky and can lead to corrupted or incomplete transfers. A botched migration can mean lost customer data, an army of broken links, and a painful drop in your hard-won SEO rankings.

Expert Insight: To ensure a smooth transition that protects your data and preserves your search engine visibility, it's always best to work with an experienced ecommerce agency. They use specialised tools and proven processes to make sure every piece of data is moved accurately, setting up your new store for peak performance from day one.

Do I Need Design Skills to Build a Beautiful Online Store?

The short answer is no—you absolutely do not need to be a designer to create a stunning and effective online store. Modern ecommerce platforms have made great design accessible to everyone.

Platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Squarespace offer huge libraries of professionally designed, mobile-friendly themes. These themes are a fantastic starting point, giving you a polished, user-friendly layout straight out of the box. You’ll find plenty of high-quality free options, as well as premium themes for when you want something more unique.

From there, making it your own is simple. You can easily add your logo, apply your brand's colour scheme, and upload your product photos. The visual editors let you arrange content and build pages without ever touching a line of code. By starting with a quality theme, any small business can launch a beautiful store that builds customer trust and drives sales.

---

At Grumspot, we specialise in helping ambitious brands fix, build, and scale their Shopify Plus stores. Whether you need a seamless migration, a custom-built feature, or a rigorous audit to unlock growth, our team of experts is ready to help. Discover how we can transform your ecommerce experience.