Statista claims that the UK is Europe’s largest eCommerce market, with revenues of PS693 billion in 2019, an increase of PS677.8 in 2018. UK consumers spend more in B2C online sales than PS197 billion, with clothing and household goods among the most sought-after items.
These are some impressive figures, right?
The morale of the story is that an attractive and fully functional eCommerce website is vital for online businesses who want to be different from their competitors and sell more products than Amazon or eBay. This is true even for those entrepreneurs who don’t want to have a physical presence.
There are many eCommerce platforms available to choose from. It can be overwhelming! We’re going to give you the lowdown on the top UK eCommerce website builders. We hope you can make an informed decision about your business after reading this article.
What is an Ecommerce Website Builder?
An eCommerce website builder allows you to create an eCommerce site that you can use to communicate your brand and sell products.
The platform should offer customer support and be able to cater to all levels of expertise, so that customers can get the help they need. These intricacies, as well as the specific web building and marketing features available will differ from one platform to another.
How to crown the UK’s best eCommerce website builder:
Before you start looking for the best UK eCommerce website builder, here are some things to consider:
1. Your Budget
Your website is the face of your company, now and for years to come. Therefore, it is important that your online store builder be affordable both when you start out and as your business grows. Take a look at the various premium plans available and think about the impact they have on your business’ growth.
You should also remember that if your web designer requires you to hire a professional developer, this will need to be added to your budget.
2. Templates of high quality
Your website builder should be able to provide templates that match your vision.
If you are just starting out, it is a good idea to make sure your website builder has plenty of templates you can customize yourself.
3. Your Timetable
Although building a website takes no time, it is worth considering this when you make your decision.
You’ll need to include time for backend work if you need one.
Similar to the previous point, certain website builders are more user-friendly if you handle everything yourself. This means that the time required to launch an eCommerce site is subject to change. It’s worth taking into consideration.
4. Use your existing tools
Imagine that you are already selling online and you are happy to use tools to manage your business. For instance, marketing, order fulfillment, analytics/customer data, etc. Your website builder must integrate with existing platforms.
If you are starting from scratch, we recommend that you look for a website builder with a variety of reliable integrations. These integrations should be able to meet your business’s needs now and in the future.
5. Developer vs. Go it-alone
If the former is the case, you should look for a website designer that provides excellent customer service around the clock.
You can also choose to not rely on templates or your website builder’s editor. Instead, you want something that is more customisable beyond your abilities. A web developer will be necessary in this case. This is why it’s important to ensure that your website builder allows you access to the code of your website. This will limit your options.
Let’s stop with the preamble. Let’s take a look at what we think are the top eCommerce website builders in the UK.
EKM
EKM was founded in 2002 and is primarily geared towards the UK market. International sellers shouldn’t be discouraged by this.
All EKM pricing plans include access to your domain name, 70+ themes and an SSL certificate. EKM users also get ongoing UK support.
EKM is known as an “all in one” platform. This means that you can sign up and have access to all the tools you need to start an online store. Website building includes a built-in payment processor as well as web hosting. Entrepreneurs don’t have to pay transaction fees for email marketing tools.
EKM offers the following features for website building:
Professional logo designer
Fully responsive designs that adapt to all devices
Drag-and-drop builders
Logos for payment cards
To name just a few.
EKM’s themes can be found in a variety of categories including food, drink, clothing and jewelry, as well as electronics.
Pricing
EKM offers a 28-day trial for no cost. Prices start at PS34.99 + VAT for Basic Plan, and increase to PS599.99 + VAT for Pro Plan. EKM can also custom design your website for you at a cost of PS1,999.99 + VAT.
You are not required to sign any contract for any of these plans.
Pros:
Access to UK-based support is available.
EKM’s templates look amazing
Each pricing plan includes a domain name.
EKM does not charge transaction fees
The Basic plan includes a welcome call and access to a dedicated account manager.
Cons:
These prices are very high.
Additional costs may be incurred because prices do not include VAT.
EKM isn’t as popular as some of the others on this list. However, it does offer native third-party applications.
Shopify
Shopify is a well-known ecommerce platform. It’s easy to forget about this platform when we review eCommerce website builders for the UK market. It offers an all-in-one solution for eCommerce store owners who are serious about selling online, similar to EKM.
Shopify offers a comprehensive content management system (CMS) that allows you to manage all of your digital content from one location.
Users also receive:
Web hosting
An intuitive web page builder is available
There are many integrations that can help you manage and run an online store or online business.
You can add any number of pages including FAQs, Contact Us, and About.
…This is only a small portion of Shopify’s eCommerce features. We simply can’t cover everything.
Shopify offers a variety of customizable templates that can be customized for free. You can also choose from hundreds of other website templates, in addition to Shopify’s selection of free themes. Shopify themes can be easily divided into different industry groups, making it easy to find the right design.
Alternativly, you might want to go deeper into the code of your website to make further modifications. Shopify’s text editor can be used to modify your templates and assets. To get started, however, you will need to have a basic understanding HTML, CSS and Liquid.
Shopify offers a website design service if you prefer to leave the web design up to the professionals. Log in to your Shopify account and go to Shopify’s site to find the list of designers that Shopify partners with. Although prices for web development are variable, you can narrow your search by entering your minimum and maximum price ranges.
Pricing
Shopify offers a 14 day free trial. You can then choose from price plans that start at $29 per month for the Basic Plan or go up to $299 for the Advanced Shopify Plan. All costs are currently only available in US$ at the time of writing. But don’t let this deter you; Shopify is perfect for UK merchants.
All plans allow you to create and launch an eCommerce site and list unlimited products.
Pros:
Shopify’s themes look stunning and are mobile-responsive
You can try it for free
There are over 3,200+ plugins and add-ons available.
Shopify offers an integrated payment processor
Unlimited products can be sold
Cons:
If you choose to pay for premium plugins and templates or a web designer, your costs can quickly go up.
If you do not use Shopify’s integrated payments processor, Shopify payments, you will be charged additional transaction fees
Shopify’s most expensive plans include more advanced reporting.
Square Online
Square Online is a site-building tool brought to you by Square, a digital payment company.
Square can be used online by businesses that use Square to process their payments. The website builder powered by Weebly is simple to use and targeted at small businesses as well as those with a physical location, such as restaurants and bars. Square online makes it easy to book bookings. Square’s inventory management tools are also impressive. It is easy to sync both your online and in-store inventory, so you can manage it all from one place.
Square Online uses a lot of artificial design intelligence. Square Online will ask you for information about the design of your website. It then does the rest.
A variety of customizable, responsive templates are available to help you showcase your products. Once you are happy with your website design, you can add or sync your products from Square POS.
Simple, right?
Pricing
You don’t have to pay monthly fees or start-up costs for a website. Instead, you only need to pay a processing fee if you make a sale. They start at 1.9% per transaction.
Square’s website builder is free, but doesn’t provide enough storage space. There are three paid plans available, starting at PS9 per month + VAT and ending at PS54 per month + VAT. The cheapest plan includes a custom domain and no Square ads. You can also upload your own fonts. These features are included in the more costly packages. The most expensive plan offers lower payment processing fees (1.75% for UK and EEA purchases).
Pros:
There are no startup or monthly fees.
It is easy to use
Square allows you to sync both your offline and online inventories. This makes Square an attractive option for brick-and-mortar sellers who also want to sell online.
Cons:
The free program only gives you 500MB storage, while all plans offer unlimited storage
If Square doesn’t offer its own payment gateway, you will have to pay higher transaction fees
Some users are unhappy with the lack of design customization.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is another solution that offers all-in-one functionality. However, this platform is especially known for its scalability. The platform’s drag-and-drop website builder makes it easy to design an eCommerce website. You don’t require any programming knowledge or a developer to create and launch a stunning website.
After you publish your site, you can customize your pages by adding text and images to your pages, as well as choosing page layouts.
There are many paid and free themes. There are only 12 free themes and 130+ paid themes. However, the platform doesn’t offer as many options as other platforms. You can filter themes by industry (paid for or free) and theme type (e.g. editorial, new, small catalogues, etc.
BigCommerce offers one of the most comprehensive toolsets available on the market. We can’t list all of them here, but we can say that it has the largest. It’s worth noting, however, that BigCommerce seamlessly integrates with Apple Pay and PayPal. The platform also offers mobile-optimized checkouts. The more expensive plans offer additional features such as abandoned cart recovery emails or stored credit cards. However, the program that is lower-priced doesn’t.
All customers have 24/7 access to chat and email support. There is also a dedicated sales line for customers in the USA, UK, and International, which is available during business hours Monday through Friday. However, technical support is only available to US-based customers. This might make it less accessible for UK vendors.
Pricing
You can try it for free for 15 days. There are three pricing options available. The Standard Plan starts at $29.95 per month, while the Pro Plan starts at $299.85 per month.
Pros:
You can try it free of charge
All plans include unlimited storage, products, and bandwidth
BigCommerce doesn’t charge additional transaction fees
If you have a team of people to help you, you can create unlimited staff accounts.
Cons:
There are fewer themes available to choose from
BigCommerce is difficult to understand, and it’s not designed for beginners.
The Standard Plan has a $50k annual limit for sales
Technical queries can only be answered by phone from the United States.
Squarespace
Squarespace, another cloud-hosted website building SaaS, includes web hosting and a complimentary domain. However, you will only be able to get the free domain if your annual billing is selected. You also have access award-winning templates that can be tailored to your brand’s specifications.
While Shopify offers more themes overall, there’s no doubt that Squarespace’s templates are more contemporary and professional-looking. If you prefer to start from scratch, you can use a blank template.
Squarespace does not charge transaction fees, which is an added bonus. Register for a free trial and choose the template that you prefer to list your products or services. You can add audio, video, forms, buttons and photo galleries to your website. To start accepting customer payments, you will need to connect to a payment processor.
Pricing
You can try the service for 14 days free of charge. There are four pricing options available starting at the PS10 per month Personal plan (based upon annual billing), and moving up to the Advanced Commerce plan, which costs PS30 per month. Monthly billing will result in higher prices.
Pros:
Professionally designed and customizable templates are available for mobile. These templates are absolutely stunning.
With annual payment plans, you get a domain name for free
Access to customer support 24 hours a day
All price plans include unlimited bandwidth and storage
Cons:
The Personal Plan doesn’t offer advanced website analytics.
You have fewer options for payment than on other platforms (i.e. Stripe, Square and PayPal).
There is no built-in multi-currency selling function.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is best known for hosting domains and providing web design services.
GoDaddy, another platform that offers artificial design intelligence (ADI), also provides what it calls GoCentral Website Building. You can quickly create a website with this tool. You can drag and drop the editing features, but you also have the option to swipe through different designs and pick the one you like for your website.
GoDaddy summarizes its manual website creation offer in four steps
Start building your website by choosing a template
Add your content
GoDaddy’s marketing tools can be used to promote your company
All your information in one place
GoDaddy’s templates can be used on mobile devices and are attractive enough. They are organized in categories such as fashion, beauty, photography or health and fitness. You can choose from hundreds of templates, and you don’t need any technical skills to edit them. However, GoDaddy does not mention whether they are paid or free, but it does say on its homepage that you may pick one to get started. You can then click on the template you choose to add text, select fonts, colors, and add sections using GoDaddy’s drag-and-drop editor.
If you don’t have the skills to take your own photos, professional photography is available for free. GoDaddy offers tools that can be used for search engine optimization, social media and email marketing. Customers receive an SSL security certificate. They also have the ability to edit their website from any device, whether it’s a tablet, a desktop or mobile. You can also view your website analytics. Customers on the cheapest plan do not have access to GoDaddy SEO features.
Customers who need assistance can also reach customer service 24/7/365 via a dedicated UK number.
Pricing
A month-long trial is available. There are four pricing options, starting at PS6.99 per month (billed annually) for Basic Plan. The eCommerce plan starts at PS19.99 per month.
Pros:
GoDaddy’s pricing policy is extremely reasonable
Access to 24/7/365 Customer Service
These templates are simple to use
Every pricing plan comes with an SSL certificate
You get a generous one-month free trial
Cons:
Customers on the Basic plan are not eligible for SEO tools
GoDaddy’s features don’t seem to be very sophisticated
You can only customize pages by adding sections to pre-designed sections. There is no flexibility. You can’t add additional elements to these sections or move them around. Instead, you are limited to turning on and off existing elements within these sections.
Webflow
Webflow is a self-hosted platform that offers a visual website builder. It goes beyond traditional templates used by other platforms. It offers a flexible platform that lets you create your own website. Apart from the wide range of design options, Webflow’s key difference is that the code is generated automatically when you use the visual editor to add features and move blocks around. Everything you create is responsive across all devices.
You also have full layout control while you work. When you use Webflow’s Designer, you have full control over JavaScript, HTML and CSS. You can create and edit content directly on the page using the Webflow Editor function. This is much more convenient than working with a complex backend CMS. Once your edits have been completed, you can click a button to publish your website.
Pricing
Webflow is available for free while you build your website. You only have to pay once you are ready to launch. There are two options available at this stage:
Site plans: These plans allow you to connect to your domain and add a checkout
Account plans: These account plans unlock additional features, including white-labeling.
There are four paid-for Site Plans available. The Basic Plan starts at $12 per month (based on an annual billing), and rises to the Enterprise Plan which requires that you contact Webflow for a customized quote.
There are also two paid-for Account Plans that cost $16 per month for the Lite Plan (based again on annual billing) and $35 for the Pro Plan. The Lite plan is for individuals. While the Team plans in Account Plans are designed to facilitate collaborative work from a shared dashboard, the Team plans in Account Plans are for teams.
Pros:
Webflow is free and you can use it to build your site.
Webfow’s pricing policy is fair.
It’s possible to design amazing things without ever having to code.
Cons:
This platform is for absolute beginners. It has a steeper learning curve.
Different pricing plans have different traffic limits. Be aware of this when you are scaling up your store.
Webflow may not be 100% compatible with Firefox or Edge.
Wix
Wix is known for being user-friendly and offering a wide range of appealing themes. There are 800+ professional-designed mobile-responsive templates that you can choose from. They are divided into different categories. After you have chosen a template that you like, you can customize it with Wix’s drag-and-drop page builder. It’s easy to resize, rotate, or recolor different elements.
Wix offers an alternative option, similar to its competitors, which is an ADI option that will help you get started with web design. Wix will create a website that meets your specific needs. You can also customize your color scheme and upload photos if necessary.
You can also work with Wix’s partners to design your website for an additional fee. Wix will match your needs with the best designer by asking you a few questions.
Pricing
Customers get a 14-day trial for free. There’s also a 14-day free trial. However, this will display Wix ads on your site and you can only use a Wix subdomain.
It doesn’t look professional. The Custom Domain Plan starts at PS3.50 per month (if you choose annual billing), and rises to the VIP Plan, which costs PS19 per month.
Pros:
Unlimited bandwidth with VIP and Unlimited plans
Hosting is free
You have hundreds of options for free templates
Wix’s pricing plans offer some of the most affordable prices on the market
Wix offers its own payment system, Wix Payments.
Wix is extremely user-friendly
You can find many self-help tutorials online
Cons:
Wix’s less expensive plans don’t offer site analytics. On the more expensive plans, you have to pay an extra year for Wix Analytics App access. There is a free option. After that, prices start at $8.29 per month for a Basic Plan and rise to $58.08 for Pro Plus Analytics.
It is impossible to change templates without losing all your website content. So choose wisely!
Exporting your website can be very difficult if you wish to change website builders down the line.
Ecwid
This platform is for small businesses. After you have created your Ecwid website, also known as an Ecwid Instant Site, you can sync it to your socials, store in person, and online marketplaces such as Amazon.
Ecwid can be used with an existing website to make it an online shop. You can also create a new website entirely from scratch. Ecwid promises you that this can be done in just five minutes using simple, customizable design tools.
You can choose from 70+ design templates that you can customize for your eCommerce website. Ecwid does not charge any setup fees or transaction fees and offers a free online shopping cart.
Sign up for an Ecwid account to get access to an “Ecwid Instant Site” with integrated eCommerce functionality. Instant Site offers a user-friendly editor that allows you to choose from a variety of design options to make your site reflect your brand. You can choose the font, layout, colors and photography for your site. The Ecwid Instant Site also includes a variety of customizable blocks you can edit and add to your site. After you have done this, you can drag and add blocks to the pages you want.
Pricing
Although you can set up your store free of charge, you will need to choose one of the three pricing plans once sales begin. The Venture Plan is the cheapest, at PS12.50 per month (if you pay annually), while the Unlimited Plan is the most expensive at PS382.50 per month (again, based upon annual billing). These prices don’t include 20% VAT.
Pros:
Websites with Ecwid are easy to set up and free of charge
The prices start at an affordable price
It is easy to convert your business website into an online store.
Cons:
The free plan does not include the ability to sell on social networks.
The free plan allows you to sell up to ten items
The free program does not offer live chat or phone support. Instead, you will need to seek help via Ecwid forums or self-help pages.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce uses WordPress’s CMS. This CMS runs large portions of the internet. WooCommerce is an open-source platform, just like WordPress. It powers approximately 28% of all online shops at the time this article was written.
WooCommerce can be used as a WordPress plugin. It is not a standalone website builder. Instead, you will need to:
Locate your web hosting provider
Install WordPress
WooCommerce is a tool that allows you to build a website and manage the eCommerce section of your WordPress site.
You can customize the platform to your liking. Additionally, you can download and use apps from WordPress’s vast marketplace to extend WooCommerce. You can also choose from a variety of paid and free themes. Many come with support for installing, customizing, and using them.
Pricing
WooCommerce can be downloaded and used for free. You may need to pay for themes and plugins.
Pros:
You can both sell digital and physical goods.
Use the WooCommerce plugin for free
WooCommerce can integrate with 140+ regional payment gateways
There are no sales restrictions
Cons:
If you are a complete beginner, the learning curve for setting up WooCommerce is slightly more difficult.
This plugin only works on WordPress sites.
Website maintenance can be tricky. If you have downloaded plugins, do not immediately install WooCommerce’s latest updates. The developers of the themes and apps you use may not have updated their products in order to keep them compatible. You should instead test your store in closed environments.
The Best Ecommerce Website Builders in the UK
It’s not easy to choose the best website builder. Your final decision will be affected by pricing, customer service, template quality, ease-of-setup, and scalability.
Each of the ten options has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. It is important to research the options and use any free trials to make sure you are satisfied with the website builder before spending your hard-earned money.
Shopify is a great choice if you are looking for excellent support, beautiful templates, and scalability. Wix is the best choice if you want a website builder that is user-friendly. You can also choose to use platforms like Ecwid or GoDaddy that offer quick setup and easy-to-use.
