The eCommerce industry has been revolutionary for small businesses in The United Kingdom for the past decade along with online marketing, and it will grow more in the upcoming years. If you have a strong online-based startup idea in The United Kingdom, all you need is to set up an eCommerce shop, enable a payment gateway for your British customers and start selling online. Online ecommerce engines are very mature and you can have a fully functional small business ecommerce site up and online in 1 day. There are many online ecommerce website platforms and the best for your small business in The United Kingdom will depend on your needs.
When shortlisting ecommerce platforms what will be the engine of your British online small business in The United Kingdom, you will need to look for mobile friendly designs as most visitors are from mobile devices, multiple payment options in The United Kingdom, discounting coupon and voucher features, British ecommerce statistics, order management, automated transaction emails and integrated shipping features for people in The United Kingdom and the rest of the world.
This post will be all about the important features to look out for before choosing an eCommerce platform for your British small business, and it is designed to make the whole process easy for merchants wishing to get setup quickly online in The United Kingdom.
Ecommerce Platforms For Small Business The United Kingdom Table of Contents
Lets see how Shopify compare to other ecommerce platforms out there.
Name | Rating | Established | Head Office |
---|---|---|---|
Shopify | 9.9 | 2006 | Ottawa, Canada |
Shopify Plus | 9.8 | 2006 | Ottawa, Canada |
WooCommerce | 9.7 | 2005 | San Francisco, CA |
Volusion | 9.7 | 1999 | Austin, TX |
3dcart | 9.7 | 1997 | Tamarac, FL |
Big Cartel | 9.7 | 2005 | Salt Lake City, UT |
Ecwid | 9.7 | 2009 | Encinitas, CA |
Ecomchain | 9.6 | 2001 | Frisco, TX |
Kooomo | 9.6 | 2000 | Dublin, Ireland |
Contalog | 9.6 | 2008 | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
PayMotion | 9.6 | 2019 | Victoria, Canada |
Upclick | 9.6 | 2006 | Montreal, Canada |
*please check with the vendors directly for the latest pricing.
Name | Price | Duration |
---|---|---|
Shopify | $29 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
Shopify Plus | $29 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
WooCommerce | $0 - $99 | Per month, Per month, Per month, Per month, Per year, Per year, Per year, |
Volusion | $RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
3dcart | $29 - $299 | Per month, |
Big Cartel | $9.99 - $Free | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
Ecwid | $0 - $99 | Per month, Per month, Per month, Per month, Per year, Per year, Per year, |
Ecomchain | $RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
Kooomo | $RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
Contalog | $99 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
PayMotion | $1.7 - $1.7 | one-time/user, |
Upclick | $36.16 - $36.16 | Per month, |
Name |
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Shopify Features
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Shopify Plus Features
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WooCommerce Features
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Volusion Features
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3dcart Features
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Big Cartel Features
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Ecwid Features
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Ecomchain Features
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Kooomo Features
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Contalog Features
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PayMotion Features
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Upclick Features
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Customer service is very important when using a ecommerce like Shopify.
When investing in and dealing with a ecommerce for your business, timely customer support is essential.
Customer service includes assistance in installation, training, troubleshooting, upgrading, and cancellation of a product or service.
Your ecommerce solution should offer customer support that includes Phone answering services, Live chat support and Email customer service support.
Shopify and Shopify Plus offer support where clients are able to call or contact the helpdesk via email or a chat service.
Name | Support Rating | Support | Languages |
---|---|---|---|
Shopify | 8.4 | Phone, Email | English |
Shopify Plus | 8.5 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | Danish, German, English, Finnish, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) |
WooCommerce | 7.4 | Phone, Email | Afrikaans, Arabic, Danish, German, English, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified) |
Volusion | 7.3 | Phone, Email, | English |
3dcart | 8.4 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | English |
Big Cartel | 8.1 | Phone, Email | English |
Ecwid | 9.6 | Phone, Email | German, English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish |
Ecomchain | 9.7 | Phone, Email | Arabic, German, English, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Latin, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Urdu, Chinese (Simplified) |
Kooomo | 9.4 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | Xhosa, Tonga (Tonga Islands), Samoan, Maori, Maltese, Fijian, Tibetan, Chinese (Simplified), Vietnamese, Uzbek, Urdu, Ukrainian, Turkish, Thai, Telugu, Tatar, Tamil, Swedish, Swahili, Serbian, Albanian, Spanish, Slovenian, Slovak, Russian, Romanian, Quechua, Portuguese, Polish, Punjabi, Norwegian, Dutch, Nepali, Malay, Mongolian, Macedonian, Marathi, Malayalam, Lithuanian, Latvian, Latin, Korean, Central Khmer, Georgian, Japanese, Italian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Armenian, Hungarian, Croatian, Hindi, Hebrew, Gujarati, Irish, French, Finnish, Persian, Basque, Estonian, English, Greek, German, Danish, Welsh, Czech, Catalan, Bulgarian, Bengali, Arabic, Afrikaans |
Contalog | 10.0 | Phone, Email | English |
PayMotion | 10.0 | Phone, Email | Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Finnish, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified) |
Upclick | 4.0 | Phone, Email | English |
Ensure that the ecommerce solution you decide upon provides the exact range of tools your organisation needs. Check ECOMMERCE is a good fit for your business.
The best ecommerce software for British ecommerce business owners is Shopify. Shopify is a ecommerce software company that serves UK business oweners and customers. Shopify specialises in ecommerce software for small to enterprise level businesses.
Scroll down to read our indepth Ecommerce Platforms For Small Business The United Kingdom guide. What you should know, Ecommerce Platforms For Small Business The United Kingdom features, price plans and support. Pros and Cons of Ecommerce Platforms For Small Business The United Kingdom as a ecommerce, everything is explained below.
An important factor for business owners to consider when looking for a Ecommerce like Shopify is the support and educational resources the Ecommerce platform can offer.
Choose a ecommerce that is considered an industry-leader with a well tested and well known software platform.
If you are thinking of using the Shopify platform you will need to know that Shopify is ecommerce that you can rely on.
Overall rating | 84% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 84% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Basic | $29 | Per month |
Professional | $79 | Per month |
unlimited | $299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 85% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 85% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Mid-Market | $29 | Per month |
Enterprise | $79 | Per month |
$299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 74% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 74% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | $0 | Per month |
Mid-Market | $15 | Per month |
Enterprise | $35 | Per month |
$99 | Per month |
Overall rating | 73% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 73% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Mini | Request Pricing | |
Plus | ||
Pro | unknown | |
Premium | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 84% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 84% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
3dcart BASIC | $29 | Per month |
3dcart PLUS | $299 | |
3dcart PRO | ||
3dcart Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 81% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 81% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Titanium | Free | Per month |
Diamond | $9.99 | Per month |
Platinum | $19.99 | Per month |
Gold | $29.99 | |
Overall rating | 96% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 96% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Free | $0 | Per month |
VENTURE | $15 | Per month |
BUSINESS | $35 | Per month |
UNLIMITED | $99 | Per month |
$12.50 | Per year |
Overall rating | 97% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 97% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Request Pricing | |
Mid-Market | ||
unknown |
Overall rating | 94% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 94% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Request Pricing | |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 100% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 100% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Basic Terms | $99 | Per month |
Small Terms | $199 | Per month |
Growing Terms | $299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 100% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 100% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | 1.7 | one-time/user |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 40% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 40% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | 36.16 | Per month |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Ecommerce in The United Kingdom is a great way for small businesses to compete in an increasingly saturated British marketplace. British ecommerce offers small busiess a way to increase sales using the internet to reach local it offers a way to drive sales,global audiences from The United Kingdom. Increased competition, cost savings, and changes in sellers' pricing behavior might all contribute to a very competitive selling environment in The United Kingdom if online retailing continues to see rapid growth. E-commerce has emerged as a significant driver of the expanding global economy not just in The United Kingdom, making it an essential component of British company strategies and a reliable accelerant of economic growth.
Benefits of ecommerce for small businesses in The United Kingdom include:
Moving your British business online can help you save some money when you are starting out. And you won't have to pay for things like rent, sales equipment, staff, and other expenses you have to take care of when you rent a physical store for your small business in The United Kingdom.
although start up costs are low British business owners, will have to take care of some costs like advertising and also pay for some software you need to set up your website and other things that will help you to market your product to your audience in The United Kingdom.
On the other hand, you have to consider the features your will need for your British business and in some cases you might not need all the advanced features some off the shelf ecommerce platforms available to you in The United Kingdom offer. Advanced ecommerce tools that small businesses in The United Kingdom benefit from include Tools for sales report generation, integrated blogs that target your British audience, shopping cart retrieval after being left, options for more advanced searching and filtering your British ecommerce site, sales checkout that is suited for mobile devices and integrated social media and SEO.
Your British business will always be open for business 24/7, and customers can come from different parts of the world not just The United Kingdom. So, it makes sense to start your British business online.
More importantly, your customers in The United Kingdom spend most of their time online and even at night. Hence you won't have any limits on time windows where you can process sales with your British business. With a properly setup online store in The United Kingdom you will be able to process orders while sleeping. So, this is a great option for British business owners who want to grow their business and take it to another level.
Most times, it is very difficult to have a global reach for your physical shop in the British and other parts of the world, but with your British eCommerce shop, you can get customers from any part of the world and make more sales with your range of products of offer in The United Kingdom.
With your British eCommerce shop, you can reach your audience in different parts of the world, and your customers can access your British shop from anywhere once they have their device and internet connection. So, if you want to supercharge your British eCommerce business, just take it online and start marketing to gain traffic through Facebook, Google Ads, Google search and the many other sales channels in The United Kingdom.
Having an online store in The United Kingdom for your small business gives you the opportunity to showcase the products digitally the way you want your British audience to see to them, like your best-selling products and related products. This is not the same with your physical shop in The United Kingdom where you'll have everything in the open in your British store where there is less chance for detailed personal ecommerce recommendations.
Having products on show in your physical shop can cause wear and tear for some items due to some factors, but when you have your British store online, you won't have any challenges like that; instead, your product will be stored in a warehouse and shipped to the customer directly in The United Kingdom when they place an order. A more controlled environment allows British business owners to scale and automate their processes as well as save money.
Another reason what you have to consider while taking your British shop online is due to affordable staff costs. You can outsource most of your tasks to remote workers who will help you to provide excellent work at an affordable price. The best thing of all is that if you small business is online your staff or virtual assistants do not have to be in The United Kingdom. You can hire a offshore assistant for the fraction of the cost you would pay someone in The United Kingdom.
So, if you want to supercharge your business in the British and beyond, it is advisable to take your shop online. Another benefit of using prebuilt off the self ecommerce platforms in The United Kingdom is that they will have ready made templates that have product lists, recommended lists and people also brought that are designed in a way that already convert well for your British consumers.
With an eCommerce shop for your British business, you can easily interact with your customers via livechat, email, social media platforms, and other messaging platforms in The United Kingdom. This will help you to close more deals and make more sales for your British business. On the contrary, if you only have a physical shop, you won't be able to interact with most of your British customers this way.
Some of the ways to interact with your British customers is by using automated transactional email; you can create a sales funnel for your small business in The United Kingdom and work them down from interested to buyers or even use email for registration to create a mailing list. Having a ready and interested audience in The United Kingdom is very essential for small businesses in The United Kingdom.
One of the benefits of taking your British business online is that most eCommerce platforms in the British allow you to keep track of your inventory automatically. With this, you'll know when you need to get new products for your online business in The United Kingdom. Inventory management is essential when knowing the health of your British business and you will need to know how much investory you have when scaling up your business.
If you want your prospective customers to trust your British business, it is important to have testimonials and reviews on your ecommerce website; that way, your British prospects will trust you more and would want to buy from you. Testimonials and reviews act as social proof when selling online in The United Kingdom. Its allot easier to add social proof if you have your British business online, than it would if you had someone in your physical store. So, it makes sense to move your British business online and also use modern social, review and customer feedback features that are built into most ecommerce platforms in The United Kingdom. This will help you to tap the full potential of taking your British small business online.
When you have your British ecommerce business online, you can easily advertise and market your products to the whole world and The United Kingdom with just a click. You can choose to advertise your British products on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Apart from social media, you also advertise your British ecommerce business to the whole world with Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Google Search and other search engines when you have an eCommerce shop for your brand in The United Kingdom.
Ecommerce platforms in The United Kingdom can be confusing for British small business owners. Which features are most useful and import for you will depend on your budget and needs. When planning your ecommerce store in The United Kingdom you should aim to have a solution that provides your business with faster purchase procedures for your British audience, online product list creation in The United Kingdom, British business costs reduction, marketing plugins, flexibility for British and international consumers, no reach constraints, product comparisons in The United Kingdom and multiple payment method integrations in The United Kingdom.
When you are looking for the best eCommerce platform for small business UK, look for a tool that has lots of templates.
As a business owner in The United Kingdom, well designed templates can help you to create and personalize your website. And you can do that even if you are not tech-savvy or a designer. And probably, you are an entrepreneur in The United Kingdom and not a website designer, so you have to focus your energy and resources on the business side of things instead of running website building. Well designed pre made ecommerce templates can help your British small business.
So, it is important to choose a British eCommerce platform that has lots of templates that fit your business. With a British eCommerce platform that has numerous templates, you can choose and easily customize any template to suit your brand in The United Kingdom.
Although it is important to have lots of templates for your British online shop, the ability to customize your template is also important as this helps you to give your website a personalized look and also structure it to suit your British brand. So, the best eCommerce platforms for any small business in The United Kingdom should be customisable.
Your British customers will spend most of the time navigating your website, and that's why their user experience is important for your British businesses success. Hence, you should have this in mind when looking for eCommerce platforms for your small business in the British.
Always choose a tool that will help you to design a website so that your British audience can move around your site and see what they are looking for, with the fewest clicks on web and mobile in The United Kingdom.
Marketing is crucial for your British online business, and you can't go far with your British business without marketing your product to your British and global audience; Useful marketing features for British business owners include Send out personalized emails as appropriate, Utilize user reviews and Other user generated content to market your British brand, detailed analytics that provide insights into your British audience, tools for optimising the conversion rate of interested British consumers, coupon Codes that generate more sales for you in The United Kingdom, intergrations with Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
This resource will help you to market and advertise your British product to your customers from different parts of the world. So, make sure a tool you want to choose to run your online business in the British has this feature.
Since you want to take your British business global understanding SEO and search engines is important for any online British business.
The acronym SEO stands for "search engine optimization," and it is a potent technique that may assist your British ecommerce website in achieving a higher ranking in search engines in The United Kingdom. Because of the large number of British people who use Google to gather information before making purchases, your website and product pages need to be optimized for them in The United Kingdom.
If you want to achieve great results with your British eCommerce shop and make more sales, SEO is extremely important. It allows you to rank high on Google and other search engines in The United Kingdom.
SEO tools will help search engines understand your website in The United Kingdom and what it is all about. However, some top British eCommerce platforms don't come with any SEO tools of intergrations. Hence, the reason why you need to do your own research before choosing any British platform for your small business in The United Kingdom.
Content is one of the most powerful resources for growing your business to your captive audience in The United Kingdom, and it will also help you to build your British brand. Informational articles that help sell your products are one of the top factors that can help your British eCommerce shop to rank on Google and other search engines. And to create content on your ecommerce website, you will need a blog section.
Note that without regular posted articles your British ecommerce business site won't rank highly on search engines. So, if you to regularly add content that educates, informs, and entertains your customers in The United Kingdom, it is advisable to choose a British eCommerce platform with a built-in blog section.
Undoubtedly, an email marketing tool is essential for communication and dissemination of information to your British and global audience. The best eCommerce platform for small business UK should be able to support informational emails, lead nurturing emails and promotional emails to help and generate more revenue for your British audience. With effective ecommerce email marketing in The United Kingdom, you can reach your British and global customers with interesting and engaging messages about your British business; you can as well use it to send transactional emails to your British audience.
Note that some British eCommerce service providers don't have integrated email functionality. however, if you choose an ecommerce platform in The United Kingdom without this feature, you'll have to get an additional email service with another platform which will cost you more money and time.
According to the most recent poll on e-commerce in The United Kingdom, the major cause for British customers to abandon their shopping carts is a lack of preferred payment options when buying online in The United Kingdom. If a British customer has access to a number of different payment choices in The United Kingdom, there is a greater chance that they will pay faster and sooner.
It is also important to choose a British eCommerce platform that has numerous payment methods for your customers in The United Kingdom and the rest of the world. Such a platform will help you to present numerous payment methods to your audience in the British and other parts of the world. Popular British ecommerce payment methods include bank transfers, debit cards, credit cards, Klarna, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay.
Cybercriminals will never stop focusing their attention on e-commerce websites in The United Kingdom as prime targets. British ecommerce sites are a thief's dream come true since they include a wealth of personal and financial information on their British customer bases. The cost of a breach to a small business in The United Kingdom may be extremely detrimental, both in terms of the loss of data and the erosion of their British customers faith in them as a trust worthy business.
Ecommerce security is a must for any British eCommerce platform you want to choose for your business. With a great British eCommerce platform that has a great security system, you'll protect your British customers and your business from online fraudsters.
Important security measures for ecommerce businesses in The United Kingdom includes;
If you want your British customers to buy your products immediately, you have to create a sense of urgency and scarcity for your British eCommerce business and its products in The United Kingdom, count down deals and vouchers are great for this. With this tool, you can give your British and international audience a limited-time deal or discount on your ecommerce website in The United Kingdom. This will enable your British customers to benefit from store discounts if they take action very fast, and this means more sales for your small business The United Kingdom.
When looking for the best eCommerce platforms for your British business, it is crucial to write down what you need in any ecommerce platform on the market and how it will help your British business in the long run.
Also, consider the security and customer support as these two will have a great impact on your British eCommerce small business in The United Kingdom.
The truth is that you are a business owner in The United Kingdom, and you don't have the luxury of time to design and handle all the complex parts of your ecommerce website in The United Kingdom. So, you have to choose the an eCommerce platform that will streamline and add great value to the day to day running and growth of you business and customer base in The United Kingdom.
Shopify is the best Ecommerce solution by overall rating based on price, support and feature set.
Shopify is the cheapest Ecommerce Ecommerce solution, price plans start at $29 and goes all the way up too $299 depending on the plan.
Some Ecommerce Ecommerce providers offer free plans, but its best to go with a provider that 100% is able to fulfill your needs rather than go cheap. Especially for your business.
The most popular Ecommerce solutions are Shopify, Shopify Plus, WooCommerce, Volusion. This is measured by number of active users and overall rating.
Read our detailed ecommerce reviews below.
If you feel some of the above ecommerce solutions are not quiet what you are looking for or perhaps you would just like to see some alternatives. See our highly rated list of ecommerce below.
You can read some of our Ecommerce side by side vs page comparisons.
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