10 Best E-Commerce Platforms In UK

In the bustling landscape of e-commerce, where innovation and convenience reign supreme, selecting the right platform for your online business can make all the difference. For entrepreneurs and established enterprises alike, the United Kingdom offers a dynamic market ripe with opportunities for growth and expansion. However, navigating through the myriad of e-commerce platforms available can be daunting, especially when each promises unique features and benefits.

Fear not, for we’ve undertaken the task of unraveling the intricacies of the e-commerce realm to present to you the definitive guide to the top 10 e-commerce platforms in the UK. Whether you’re a budding startup seeking a user-friendly interface or a seasoned retailer in search of advanced customization options, there’s a platform tailored to meet your specific needs and propel your online venture to new heights.

Join us as we embark on a journey through the digital landscape, exploring the diverse array of e-commerce solutions that cater to the vibrant market of the United Kingdom. From robust infrastructure to seamless integration capabilities, each platform on our list has been carefully curated based on its performance, versatility, and ability to empower businesses in the ever-evolving world of online retail.

1. Shopify 

When speaking of the best e-commerce platforms and sites in the UK, Shopify has to be at the top of my list. With millions of users worldwide, Shopify is empowering businesses and next-generation entrepreneurs to start, run, and grow their own businesses online within a few clicks. It is a 360-degree platform in the UK that will help you create your online store, including marketing, promotion, sales, and everything in between. 

The platform is built with a seamless user experience, allowing you to create your first online store within a few clicks. Even if you are a beginner, there is no need to worry. There are loads of learning resources in the form of guides, videos, and courses to help you get started with Shopify. 

Besides, Shopify will give you all the tools that you might need to kick-start your online business. For example, it has a business name generator, domain name finder, SEO and marketing tools, an online store builder, templates, AI tools to create content and an online store, a logo maker, analytics, and a lot more. 

Features of Shopify

1) Online store editor

Shopify Online Store Editor is a perfect tool to help you create your online store just as you want. You can start by choosing a theme and editing it with a drag-and-drop editor. You can also select from some pre-built themes that are 100% optimized for SEO and to rank on Google. 

2) Shipping

Shipping is the most important aspect of any online business. With Shopify Shipping, you can deliver your order to customers faster and with ease. Shopify shipping allows you to connect your Shopify account with shipping career accounts, through which you can print shipping labels, get discounted rates, and display shipping rates instead of flat rates at checkout. 

3) Shopify app store

As the name says it all, the Shopify app store is a place where you will find all the tools, apps, and software for your Shopify store. It has SEO tools, marketing software, promotion apps, and a lot more to take your store to the to the next level. 

4) Payment gateways

With the help of the Shopify payment gateway, you can take payments from anywhere in the world. It has over 100 payment providers, like Master Card, Paypal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and a lot more. 

Pros

• The best-in the world e-commerce platform
• Affordable
• Loads of features 
• A free trail is available.
• Customer support

Cons

• No cons

Pricing of Shopify

2. Big Commerce

Next to Shopify, Big Commerce is another e-commerce platform that offers enterprise-level e-commerce solutions. Big Commerce is a slightly tricky platform to understand. It will help you attract, build, scale, operate, and manage your online store hassle-free. Big Commerce has a mission to help their customers sell more at every point of growth. Since then, thousands of merchants from 150+ countries have been using this platform.

Big Commerce has a visual storefront editor and design tools like a page and visual editor, allowing you to edit your store in real time and see the changes happening. You don’t need to have coding experience since it has a drag-and-drop editor. You also get the option to select a theme and customize it further with the help of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. All the themes that are pre-created are 100% mobile-friendly, SEO-optimized, and can be ranked on Google. 

What’s more? You can also integrate your WordPress website with Big Commerce, which is not available on Shopify. 

Features of Big Commerce

1) Cross-channel e-commerce

The cross-channel e-commerce features of Big Commerce are truly amazing. It will help you create and manage multiple, unique storefronts from and within your Big Commerce Dashboard. You can also integrate your store with Amazon, eBay, and Google Shopping to sell your products where your customers are shopping.

2) Core commerce features

With the core commerce features, you can manage your entire product line, automate your sales taxes, and take care of your shipping and fulfillment needs. It also gives you a staging environment to help you make your store editing and designing process easy. 

3) Open platform

More than 90% of Big Commerce’s platform data is exposed to APIs. Also, Big Commerce supports more than 400 calls per second, making 24000 product updates at one single time. It is also SEO-friendly and allows you to create custom URLs, titles, and meta descriptions for every single product page. 

4) Security 

Security is the top-notch feature of Big Commerce, which makes it one of the safest, most scalable, and most reliable e-commerce websites in the UK. It is built on high-availability infrastructure that gives a 99.999% guarantee of uptime and performance. It also gives backup and restore options to mitigate potential failures. 

Pros

• The best-in the world e-commerce platform
• Affordable
• Loads of features 
• A free trail is available.
• Customer support

Cons

• No cons

Pricing of Big Commerce

3. Woo Commerce

WooCommerce stands as a potent e-commerce plugin within the WordPress ecosystem, seamlessly integrating with the widely-used content management system. Developed by Automattic, the same company behind WordPress, WooCommerce empowers users to effortlessly convert their websites into dynamic and fully-functional online stores. 

Its user-friendly interface facilitates efficient product management, enabling easy addition, modification, and removal of products, along with versatile options like variations (e.g., sizes or colors). The platform offers robust tools for order management, allowing businesses to track orders, generate invoices, and streamline the overall purchase process.

Diversity is a key strength of WooCommerce, reflected in its support for various payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, and credit cards. Users can also incorporate offline payment methods like bank transfers and cash on delivery. 

The flexibility extends to shipping options, encompassing flat rates, free shipping, and real-time calculations based on factors like location and weight. Moreover, WooCommerce addresses the intricacies of tax management, providing configurable settings based on business location and rules.

Features of Woo Commerce

1) Product Management

You can easily add, edit, and remove products, including variations such as size, color, etc. Product images, descriptions, and prices can be managed through the WooCommerce interface.

2) Order Management

WooCommerce provides tools for managing customer orders, tracking order status, and generating invoices and packing slips.

3) Payment Options

It supports a variety of payment gateways, including popular ones like PayPal, Stripe, and credit card payments. Users can also enable offline payment methods like bank transfers and cash on delivery.

4) Shipping Options

WooCommerce allows you to set up shipping options, including flat rates, free shipping, and real-time shipping calculations based on location and weight.

5) Tax Management

The plugin helps you configure and apply taxes based on your business location and rules. It supports various tax classes and rates.

Pros

• Fast to implement for existing websites, especially WordPress
• Competitive Pricing
• Open source
• Easy and effective design options
• Thousands of unique store designs
• Security

Cons

• Poor UX and UI

Pricing of Woo Commerce

4. Wix

When speaking of the best e-commerce website in the UK, Wix has to be on this list. Whether you want to create an online store, portfolio, blog, service website, or event-based site, Wix is the right place to get started. 

Wix gives you a bundle of resources and advanced functionalities so that you can bring your vision to life. From selling online to starting a small blog and organizing events, Wix will help you with everything and anything. It gives you complete independence over online store creation with a drag-and-drop editor, design capabilities, a custom domain, a logo maker, AI technology, and web development tools.

The best part of the Wix e-commerce platform is its fast loading capacity and cloud hosting services that ensure a 99.9% uptime guarantee even during a sudden traffic hike. Plus, it is 100% SEO-friendly and gives you all the tools to further optimize your site and enhance its search presence. 

Features of Wix

1) Cart checkout process

Wix gives you 80+ payment gateway solutions for your business and location. There are some leading gateways like Paypal, Stripe, Square, and a lot more. You can also accept payments directly via major debit and credit cards with Wix payment solutions. 

2) Store management

It allows you to manage your store, category, and inventory smoothly without any hassle. You can use the APIs to connect your preferred inventory management tool and keep your store in sync with other tools all the time. You can also use smart business automation tools and email marketing tools like ActiveCampaign or Hubspot.

3) Marketing and SEO

This is my favorite feature of Wix. Wix arms you with built-in SEO tools so that you can drive organic traffic to your site. You can also automate Facebook and Instagram ads through campaign creation and track sales, traffic, and conversions. You can also automate your social media content creation and schedule posts.

4) Payments

Wix provides a seamless checkout experience and secure online payment solutions with advanced encryption and high standards that make payments risk-free. Customers can pay from any device and from anywhere in the world. They can instantly pay on your site via a payment gateway, credit card, or debit card.

Pros

• AI tools
• Logo maker
• Domain name
• Business name generator
• SEO tools

Cons

• No cons at all.

Pricing of Wix

5. Weebly

If you are serious about creating an online store that stands out from others, then you should be using Weebly. Weebly is an independent e-commerce platform in the UK that will help you bring your online store to life. You can choose from a customizable theme to showcase your products and use their drag-and-drop editor to help you launch your store with a few clicks. To help you grow your business, Weebly gives you marketing tools for SEO and email marketing, allowing you to take your online store to the next level of awesomeness.

They have shipping tools and resources that will make sending products internationally and domestically easy. You can get real-time shipping rates, carrier, address, weight, and quantity. You can also easily track your inventory with the Inventory Management tool, which also has bulk import and export features to grow your online store.

Features of Weebly

1) Design tools

Weebly has some stunning design and editing tools to help you create the best online store. You can choose from a wide range of tools. 

2) Templates

One notable aspect of Weebly’s templates is their diversity. Whether you’re creating a personal blog, a portfolio, an e-commerce site, or a business website, Weebly has templates that can suit your needs. The templates are professionally designed and responsive, ensuring a seamless and visually appealing experience across various devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

3) Email marketing

For businesses and individuals looking to harness the power of email marketing, Weebly also offers integrated email marketing features. Users can easily connect with their audience through customizable newsletters and promotional emails. The platform allows you to design visually appealing email campaigns using a drag-and-drop editor, making it accessible for users with varying levels of design expertise.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Learning resources
• Customer support
• A free trail is available.

Cons

• Pricing is a bit high.

Pricing of Weebly

6. Open Cart

Open Cart needs no introduction. It is a free and open-source e-commerce platform in the UK that offers everything you need to create, scale, and run a business online. It comes with free downloads and updates with zero monthly fees. The best part of Open Cart is its 13,000+ modules and themes that you can opt for for your business. You can find themes and templates related to any niche, service, or sector. 

Another good thing about Open Cart is its easy-to-use interface. Once you download it on your PC or laptop, you can start your store as soon as possible after installation. After installing it, you need to select a theme, add your product photos and description, click on a few settings, and you are good to go. You can go through their guide and blog posts on how to get started with Open Cart. you can also contact their customer support team who are 24*7 You to help you out. 

Features of Open Cart

1. Dashboard

The dashboard works similarly to any analytical tool that will showcase you all the important data metrics like orders, sales, customers, visitors, traffic, and many more to help you make sound decisions regarding your online store. 

2. User management

To help you organize your store, you need to have data regarding your customers under one roof. The user management feature will help you keep all the customer and user data in one place, along with their information like name, email, order, and more.

3. Multi store

You can also manage multiple stores with one admin account. This will not only save you time but also help you perform important activities without any deviation. 

Pros

• Free to use
• 24*7 customer support
• 13K plus templates
• Free hosting

Cons

• Complex to understand. 
• Not beginner-friendly 

7. Big Cartel

Started in 2005, Big Cartel is yet another online e-commerce website in the UK that has helped thousands of businesses all over the world sell over $2.5 billion of their work. They are a 100% independent e-commerce platform in the UK for artists, makers, small business owners, and brands who want to start their online store in the UK and make a living doing what they love.

Wondering why you chose Big Cartel to start your online store in the UK? 

Here’s why. 

Big Cartel will help you stand out from the rest of your competitors by helping you create an SEO-friendly online store within minutes. Whether you are already using a marketplace like Etsy or exploring new platforms to sell online for the first time, Big Cartel gives you everything you need to launch your e-commerce store quickly. 

You don’t have to have any existing e-commerce shop knowledge or coding experience to start selling on Big Cartel. We make it easy for you to launch your first store by providing a simple admin dashboard and all the steps to get you started, free templates that help your products shine, excellent customer service from real people, and a free plan so you can get up and running without even entering your credit card number.

Features of Big Cartel

1) Store Customization

Big Cartel allows users to customize the look and feel of their online store.

Users can choose from various themes and customize them to match their brand.

2) Product Management

Users can easily add and manage their products, including images, descriptions, and prices. Inventory tracking is available to help users keep track of their stock.

3) Order Management

Big Cartel provides tools to manage and fulfill orders. Users can view order history, track shipments, and update order statuses.

4) Payment Options

Integrated with payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal for accepting online payments. Users can offer different payment methods to customers.

Pros

• Amazing themes
• A free trial is available.
• Drag-and-drop editor
• Third-party app integration

Cons

• Lacks some advanced features

Pricing of Big Cartel

8. Square Online

With a powerful store builder and loads and loads of features, Store is my personal favorite e-commerce platform in London, UK. On Square, you can setup your online store in no time with the help of their e-commerce builder without having coding experience. You can customize elements like fonts, themes, colors, images, shapes, and much more to level up your brand and style in the online store. 

Square Premium allows you to add unlimited products, photos, product descriptions, size variations, and a lot more. They also have Instagram integration that lets you import your Instagram feed and create a single shopping page.

Features of Square Online

1) Give an amazing shopping experience.

By creating an online store on Square, you can deliver an amazing customer experience to your users. Your customers can access your store via mobile, just like an app. Also, your customer can track their orders and save payment information.

2) Easy shipping policies

With Square, you can offer your customers shipping discounts, create your own customized shipping labels for branding, and get a real-time shipping tracker and rate calculator. It also gives you free in-store pickup, so you can give your nearby customers the flexibility to pick up online orders from your store’s location.

3) Easy payment

Square also comes with an afterpay built-in that will allow your customers to pay the amount of their purchase in installments, while you can get paid the full amount right away. 

Pros

• Simple to use
• Multiple payment options
• Safe and secure
• Marketing tools included
• Customer support

Cons

• No cons

Pricing of Square Online

9. Sellfy

If you are looking for an easy and simple-to-use online store creator in the UK, then Sellfy is the place to be. This e-commerce website in the UK is for creators looking to kickstart their entrepreneurial journey of selling digital, physical, subscription, and print-on-demand products by creating their online store in the UK. it has Sellfy was started in 2011, and since then, it has helped 60,000 creators sell their products online. 

Features of Sellfy

1. Sell a wide range of products.

On Sellfy, you can sell a wide range of products, including print-on-demand items and digital products, create and sell digital subscription products, and charge your customers. You can also offer your videos on demand, reducing the risk of piracy and downloading issues.

2. Marketing tools

Sellfy has amazing marketing tools that you can use to optimize your online store, rank it on Google, do social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and so much more. 

3. Embed features

This feature will allow you to sell from your website, social media, and anywhere. You can add buy-now buttons to your website, blog, YouTube channel, and social media profile and sell your products across the internet. 

Pros

• Hassle-free solutions
• Easy-to-use interface
• Advaced marketing tools
• Analytics and reporting

Cons

• Lacks advanced features

Pricing of Sellfy

10. Adobe Commerce

Magento Commerce, now Adobe Commerce, is a robust and customizable e-commerce solution that enables businesses to create and manage online stores. It offers a range of features, including:

Open Source and Commerce Editions: Adobe Commerce comes in two editions: Open Source (formerly known as Magento Open Source) and Commerce (formerly known as Magento Commerce). The Commerce edition includes additional features and support.

Flexibility and Customization: It is known for its flexibility, allowing businesses to customize their online stores according to their specific needs. It supports various third-party extensions and integrations.

Scalability: Adobe Commerce is suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. It is designed to scale and handle increased demands as a business grows.

Multi-Store Management: Businesses can manage multiple online stores from a single admin interface, making it easier to oversee various aspects of their e-commerce operations.

Features of Adobe Commerce

1) Security Features

Adobe Commerce incorporates security features to protect customer data and ensure secure transactions.

2) Mobile-Friendly

The platform is designed to be responsive, providing a seamless experience for users on various devices, including smartphones and tablets.

3) Marketing and SEO Tools

Adobe Commerce includes tools for marketing, promotions, and search engine optimization (SEO) to help businesses attract and retain customers.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Beginner friendly
• Advanced features
• Customer support for all

Cons

• Pricing is too high. 

FAQs about e-commerce platforms in the UK