# How much does an e-commerce website cost in the UK?

> What an e-commerce website costs in the UK: platform fees, build prices, card fees, apps and running costs, with three-year totals for small and growing online shops.

- Source: https://nerdsharks.com/blog/ecommerce-website-cost-uk
- Publisher: Nerdsharks (Exeter, Devon, UK)
- Updated: 2026-09-26

**Short answer:** An e-commerce website in the UK typically costs £500–£3,000 to set up on Shopify or WooCommerce with a freelancer's help, £3,000–£15,000 for a custom-designed small shop, and £20,000 or more for larger stores with integrations. Running costs matter as much: platform fees, card processing of roughly 1.5%–3% per sale, app subscriptions and maintenance.

Published 2026-09-26. 9 min read. Category: Website costs and pricing.

An e-commerce website costs more than a brochure site for good reasons. It handles money, stock, delivery, tax and customer data, and every one of those can go wrong in ways that cost you sales. It also keeps costing after launch, because nearly every online shop pays a percentage of each sale in card fees and often a monthly platform fee on top.

This guide sets out what an e-commerce website costs in the UK to build and run, what drives the numbers, and how to estimate the true cost for a shop your size.

## The three main ways to build an online shop

- Hosted platform (Shopify, Squarespace Commerce, Wix eCommerce): you pay a monthly subscription, the platform handles hosting, security and checkout. Quick to start, with apps for extra features.
- Self-hosted open source (WooCommerce on WordPress, and others): the software is free, but you pay for hosting, extensions, security and someone to maintain it.
- Custom build: designed and built for your products and processes, often with a payment provider such as Stripe for checkout. More upfront work, more control, no platform lock-in.
- There is also a middle route: a custom-designed website that connects to a hosted checkout or product catalogue, so the brand and content are yours while the payment machinery is handled by a specialist. It suits businesses where the website's main job is persuasion and the shop is one part of it.

## E-commerce website costs to build

**Typical UK e-commerce build costs (market ranges at the time of writing, not quotes)**

| Approach | Typical build cost | Typical monthly running cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY on a hosted platform | £0–£300 (theme) | £20–£100 plus apps | Small ranges, owner has time |
| Hosted platform, set up by a freelancer | £800–£3,000 | £30–£150 plus apps | Most new small shops |
| WooCommerce, freelancer or studio | £1,500–£6,000 | £30–£200 hosting and care | Shops already on WordPress |
| Custom-designed small shop | £3,000–£15,000 | £50–£300 | Brands where design and speed matter |
| Agency build with integrations | £20,000–£100,000+ | £500–£3,000+ | Established retailers, large catalogues |

## The running costs of an online shop

The build is a one-off. These costs continue for as long as the shop trades, and on a busy shop they can easily exceed the build price within a year or two.

- Platform subscription: hosted platforms charge monthly, with higher tiers offering lower card rates and more features.
- Card processing: every provider takes a percentage plus a small fixed fee per transaction. For standard UK cards this is commonly around 1.5% to 2% plus 20p to 25p, higher for international and some business cards.
- Platform transaction fees: some hosted platforms add an extra fee if you use a payment provider other than their own.
- Apps and extensions: reviews, subscriptions, upsells, delivery rules, accounting links. Each £5–£50 a month adds up quickly.
- Hosting and maintenance, if self-hosted or custom.
- Shipping software, label printing and courier accounts.
- Product photography, which needs refreshing every time the range changes.

> Work out card fees as a cost per order, not a percentage. On a £40 average order, 1.5% plus 20p is 80p. On a £10 order it is 35p, which is 3.5% of the sale. Low-value shops feel card fees much more.

## A three-year cost example

Take a small shop selling £60,000 a year online through 1,500 orders, at an illustrative blended card cost of 2% plus 20p. Card processing alone is roughly £1,500 a year before any platform fees. Over three years that is around £4,500, which is more than many small shops pay for their build.

Add a platform subscription of £30–£80 a month, £40 a month in apps and a few hundred pounds a year of design tweaks, and a typical three-year running total lands somewhere between £7,000 and £11,000, on top of the build. None of these figures are unusual. They are simply the cost of trading online, and they belong in the business plan from day one.

Repeat the exercise with your own numbers before choosing a platform. The ranking of options can change completely once your real order volume and average order value are included.

## What makes an e-commerce build more expensive

- Number of products and variants (sizes, colours, bundles).
- Product data: whether you supply it clean, or someone has to write descriptions and edit photos.
- Integrations with stock, accounting, EPOS or warehouse systems.
- Subscriptions, pre-orders, trade accounts or wholesale pricing.
- Selling internationally: currencies, taxes and delivery zones.
- Custom checkout flows or product builders.
- Legal pages: returns policy, terms of sale and privacy notice, which UK consumer law expects an online shop to get right.
- Marketplace or social selling integrations, such as Amazon, eBay or Instagram shopping.

## Legal pages every UK online shop needs

Selling online to consumers brings obligations a brochure site does not have. Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, customers buying most goods at a distance generally have 14 days to cancel after receiving them, and your site must give clear information about that right, your business identity and contact details, total prices including delivery, and how to complain. Limited companies must also show their registered name, company number and registered office address. Your privacy notice needs to explain how you handle order and payment data.

None of this is complicated, but it takes time to write properly, and terms copied from another shop usually describe somebody else's business. Budget for it, and have the pages checked if you sell anything with special rules, such as food, cosmetics or age-restricted products.

## Do you need a full shop at all?

Many small businesses do not need a full e-commerce site. A salon selling gift vouchers, a bakery taking cake orders, or a tradesperson taking deposits can often use a simpler setup: a payment link or a small checkout for a handful of items, on an ordinary business website. It is cheaper to build, cheaper to run and easier to manage.

A full shop starts to make sense when you have enough products, orders and repeat customers that stock management, delivery rules and customer accounts save you real time.

A useful test: estimate how many orders a week you expect in the first year and how many products you will list. If the answer is a handful of each, a full e-commerce platform is likely to cost more in fees and admin than it saves. If it is dozens of products and daily orders, the time a proper shop saves quickly justifies it.

## Where we fit

Online shops, payments and live bookings can be added to any of our plans, quoted on your call, and come as standard on Pro: £6,950 for the build and £299 a month, which covers a custom-designed shop with unlimited products, customer accounts, card payments, integrations with your stock or accounting systems, hosting, maintenance and same-day changes. For businesses that only need to take a deposit or sell a few items, we will tell you honestly if something simpler would do.

## Questions

### How much does a small e-commerce website cost in the UK?

A small e-commerce website in the UK usually costs £800–£3,000 to set up on a hosted platform with professional help, or £3,000–£15,000 for a custom design, plus monthly platform, app and card processing costs.

### Is Shopify cheaper than a custom online shop?

Shopify is usually cheaper to start, because the platform does much of the work. Over several years, subscriptions, app fees and transaction fees add up, so a custom shop can become comparable. The right choice depends on your product range and how much control you need.

### What are the ongoing costs of an e-commerce website?

The ongoing costs of an online shop include platform or hosting fees, card processing on every sale, app or extension subscriptions, maintenance, domain and email, and product photography. Card fees alone often cost more than the platform on a busy shop.

### Do I need to charge VAT on my online shop?

You only need to charge VAT if your business is VAT-registered, which is compulsory once your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold, currently £90,000 over a rolling 12 months. Check with HMRC guidance or an accountant for your circumstances.

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

Often, yes. Depending on how the site is built, a shop can be added as a section, linked to a hosted platform, or handled with simple payment links for a few items. A small number of products rarely needs a full e-commerce rebuild.

### How long does it take to build an e-commerce website?

A small shop on a hosted platform can be live in a week or two if products and photos are ready. A custom-designed shop typically takes four to ten weeks. Product data, photography and legal pages are the usual causes of delay, not the build itself.

## Sources

- Stripe pricing, Stripe, September 2026: https://stripe.com/gb/pricing
- Shopify pricing (UK), Shopify, September 2026: https://www.shopify.com/uk/pricing
- VAT registration: when to register, GOV.UK, 2026: https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration/when-to-register