# How Much Does an Ecommerce Website Cost in the UK?

Source: https://dijitulwebdesign.co.uk/guides/how-much-does-an-ecommerce-website-cost-uk/
Updated: 2026-10-18

> A UK ecommerce website typically costs a few thousand pounds from a freelancer and more from an agency, plus monthly platform and payment fees. dijitul builds Shopify and WooCommerce shops from £750 + VAT, including payments, delivery rules, a Google Merchant Centre feed, abandoned cart recovery and staff training, at a fixed price.

## Key facts

- Bark's UK cost guide (checked October 2026) puts freelance ecommerce sites at £2,000 to £5,000 and agency ones at £5,000 to £15,000
- dijitul builds Shopify or WooCommerce shops from £750 + VAT, with larger catalogues given a fixed quote
- Shopify's UK Basic plan is £25 a month, or £19 a month paid yearly (Shopify pricing page, October 2026)
- Stripe charges 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards (Stripe UK pricing, October 2026)
- WooCommerce is free to install but you pay for hosting, and often for paid extensions
- Product photography, apps and premium plugins are usually extra

## Typical UK prices for an online shop

Online shops cost more than brochure sites because there is more to build and test: product templates, category structure, basket, checkout, delivery rules, tax, emails and stock. Bark's UK web design cost guide (checked October 2026) gives ecommerce sites at £2,000 to £5,000 from freelancers and £5,000 to £15,000 from agencies. Large catalogues, B2B pricing and custom integrations push beyond that.

dijitul's ecommerce websites start from £750 + VAT. That covers a Shopify or WooCommerce build with product and category structure built to rank, payments and delivery rules, click-and-collect and local delivery, accounts or EPOS integration, a Google Merchant Centre feed, abandoned cart recovery and training on order management. Bigger catalogues or unusual requirements get a fixed quote before we start.

## The running costs nobody mentions

The build is a one-off. The shop then has monthly and per-sale costs, and these decide your margins far more than the build fee does.

| Cost | Example (checked October 2026) |

| Shopify Basic plan | £25 a month, or £19 a month paid yearly (Shopify UK pricing page) |
| Shopify Grow plan | £65 a month, or £49 a month paid yearly (Shopify) |
| Shopify online card rate | 2% + 25p on Basic, 1.7% + 25p on Grow (Shopify) |
| Stripe, standard UK cards | 1.5% + 20p (Stripe UK pricing page) |
| Stripe, international cards | 3.15% + 20p, plus 2% if currency conversion is needed (Stripe) |

On top of that, budget for hosting if you choose WooCommerce, apps or paid plugins (reviews, subscriptions, product options), and a domain name. Ask any designer to list these in the quote.

## Shopify or WooCommerce: how the choice affects cost

**Shopify** is hosted for you. You pay a monthly plan, security and updates are handled, and most features come from apps in the Shopify App Store, many with their own monthly fees. It suits shops that want a stable checkout without managing a server.

**WooCommerce** is a free WordPress plugin. You pay for hosting, and often for extensions, but there is no platform subscription and you control the code and data. It suits businesses that already run WordPress, sell services alongside products, or want content and shop in one place.

Neither is always cheaper. A shop with ten products and simple delivery may be cheapest on Shopify Basic; a shop with a busy blog and complex product options may be cheaper long term on WooCommerce. We cover both in Shopify web design and WooCommerce web design.

## What drives the build price

- **Number of products and variants.** Adding 20 products is quick; importing 2,000 with sizes, colours and images needs a clean spreadsheet and careful mapping.
- **Delivery rules.** Flat rate is simple. Weight bands, postcode zones, click-and-collect and local delivery take longer to set up and test.
- **Integrations.** Linking to EPOS, stock systems, accounting software or a marketplace adds time.
- **Trade or B2B pricing.** Customer-specific prices, quotes and account terms are a bigger job; see B2B ecommerce.
- **Product content.** Writing descriptions and taking photos is often the largest hidden cost. Good product pages sell; see product page design.

The cheapest way to control the build price is to arrive with a clean product spreadsheet: one row per product or variant, with title, price, weight, stock and image file names. It saves hours of tidying.

## Legal must-haves that affect scope

A UK online shop has to show certain information by law, including your business name, geographic address, email address and VAT number, and prices that say whether tax and delivery are included (Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, regulation 6). Consumers buying at a distance usually have a 14-day right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, and this must be explained before they buy. We build these pages and checkout notices in from the start. Read what a UK business website must show by law.

## When to call us

If you have a product list and a rough idea of delivery rules, send us the details and we will give you a fixed price and a recommendation on Shopify or WooCommerce. If you are still working out the platform, call 01623 650333 and talk it through with us first.

## FAQs

### How much does a small online shop cost to build?

Bark's UK guide (checked October 2026) puts freelance ecommerce sites at £2,000 to £5,000. dijitul builds Shopify and WooCommerce shops from £750 + VAT, including payments, delivery rules, Google Merchant Centre feed, abandoned cart recovery and staff training. Larger catalogues and integrations get a fixed quote.

### What are the monthly costs of a Shopify shop?

Shopify's UK pricing page (checked October 2026) lists Basic at £25 a month, or £19 a month paid yearly, with online card payments at 2% + 25p. Paid apps and a domain name are on top. There is no separate hosting bill with Shopify.

### Is WooCommerce free?

The WooCommerce plugin is free, but a working shop is not. You need hosting, a domain and an SSL certificate, and many shops buy extensions for things like subscriptions, product add-ons or advanced shipping. In exchange there is no platform subscription and you control your data.

### Can I add a shop to my existing website?

Often, yes. If your site runs on WordPress we can usually add WooCommerce. If it runs on another platform, a Shopify shop on a subdomain or a full rebuild may be simpler. We look at your current site first and tell you which is cheaper over two or three years.

### Do you load the products for me?

We set up the product and category structure and can import products from a spreadsheet. If you have hundreds of products, we will agree in the quote how many we load and how the rest are imported, so the cost is clear before we start.

### How long does an ecommerce build take?

It depends mainly on the catalogue and on how quickly product content arrives. A small shop with a few dozen products is far quicker than one with thousands of variants and EPOS integration. We give you a timeline with the quote and agree it before work starts.

## Prices and contact

Prices (from, + VAT): Starter £250 (Up to 5 pages, Custom design, not a template, Mobile-first build, Contact form and click-to-call, Google Business Profile set up, Basic SEO foundations, Analytics and Search Console); Business £500 (Up to 15 pages, A page per service, written to rank, Copywriting included, Full schema markup, Local SEO groundwork, Speed optimised to pass Core Web Vitals, Conversion tracking configured, Training session and recorded walkthrough); Ecommerce £750 (Shopify or WooCommerce, Product and category structure built to rank, Payments and delivery rules configured, Click-and-collect and local delivery, Accounts or EPOS integration, Google Merchant Centre feed, Abandoned cart recovery, Staff training on order management); changes £45 an hour. All prices are "from" and exclude VAT. Every project gets a fixed quote before work starts. Domain registration, stock photography, premium plugins or apps and hosting are listed in the quote, never added later. You own the website and the domain. Aftercare: Hosting from £1 a day + VAT (https://dijihost.co.uk/); Website care plans from £25 a month + VAT (https://dijitulsupport.co.uk/). Contact: https://dijitulwebdesign.co.uk/contact/ · 01623 650333 · info@dijitul.uk