To begin with, the
United Kingdom (UK) is paving the way for a future dominated by online
retail. Many recent surveys indicated that the UK is the
country that spent the most money each year on online shopping. As a
result, more and more business owners are looking for a suitable eCommerce
platform to start selling online. Now, there are a lot of options for them to
choose, from free to paid ones. To make the selection process easier, this
article will show the most popular eCommerce platforms in UK as well as make a
comparison among their pricing. Let’s discover now!
1. Magento
When it comes to the
eCommerce platform, Magento is always on the top of the list, not only in the
UK but also worldwide. It’s true to say that Magento can provide all
you want to develop an eCommerce website, regardless of your business
scale.
If you are a
startup, Magento Open Source (previously Magento Community)
will be a perfect match. Although this is just a free platform, it includes a
comprehensive list of eCommerce features for Product & catalog management,
Site management, Order management, Checkout, Payment, Shipping, SEO & Marketing,
Analytics & reports, etc.
On the other hand, if
you are possessing a generous budget or running a big business, and you require
an advanced platform, Magento Commerce (previously Magento
Enterprise) can satisfy your needs.
Compared to Magento
Open Source, Magento Commerce brings about many cutting-edge features related
to B2B eCommerce, PWA, business intelligence, sales channels, global expansion,
marketplace, cloud deployment, customer personalization, and so on.
How much does it cost
to create a Magento eCommerce store in UK?
For Magento Open
Source, you can download it at no cost. However, Magento Commerce
pricing is very expensive, starting from $22,000 on an annual basis.
Besides acquisition
cost, you have to invest in the Magento development cost. In other words, you
will have to hire Magento developers to build your site, starting from
$2,500. To get a free estimate for your project, you can contact
this UK Magento agency.
Examples of UK Magento
websites: rebelliousfashion.co.uk, missguided.co.uk, lasula.co.uk, prettylittlething.com, inthestyle.com, humblechic.com
2. Shopify
The second name in the
list of prevalent eCommerce platforms in UK is undoubtedly Shopify. There are a
variety of reasons that make people opt for Shopify.
One of the most
persuasive reasons is that it’s relatively easy and quick to set up a new
eCommerce site on Shopify from scratch, even without technical knowledge.
Different from
Magento, Shopify is a self-hosted platform so you don’t need to pay extra fees
for the host service provider.
Also,
Shopify offers its own payment gateway, which is powered by Stripe.
You don’t have to pay transaction fees and also enjoy low online
credit card rates by using this available payment gateway. Otherwise, you can
still integrate other payment gateways into your Shopify store; but obviously,
it will incur the transaction fees.
Besides many pros,
there are several cons when developing your site on Shopify platform. For
example, Shopify is less flexible and hard to customize than Magento. To
acquire advanced eCommerce features, in most cases, you will need to buy and
install a plugin. It seems that Shopify is more suitable for small businesses.
How much does it cost
to build a Shopify website in UK?
Now, Shopify is
offering 3 pricing plans: $29/month, $79/month, and $299/month. However, more
than 70% of Shopify users must go for the most expensive plan to access the
necessary features. That’s why in the short-term, building a website on Shopify
might be cheaper than Magento Open Source, but it’s a different story in the
long-term.
Apart from it, if you
don’t want to spend a lot of time learning about Shopify to set up a site,
hiring Shopify developers might be a good idea. In general, you will have to
pay $1,000-5,000 for the developers.
Examples of Shopify websites: academyandco.com, pinkboutique.co.uk, isawitfirst.com, serenabutelondon.com, hauslondon.com, and
fancypantsbakery.com.
3. BigCommerce
Another prevalent
eCommerce platform in UK is BigCommerce. Up to now, there have been more than
100,000 BigCommerce online stores across the globe.
Here are some
noticeable advantages of this hosted eCommerce platform:
- Ease of use, 15-day trial.
- No transaction fees, regardless of your selected payment
gateway. - Unlimited staff accounts, bandwidth, products, and storage
space regardless of your chosen plan. - Be able to download the themes and edit them offline.
- Various built-in eCommerce and marketing features.
Notwithstanding,
BigCommerce has some disadvantages such as extra fees for stores that cross a
certain revenue amount, expensive themes, limited phone hour support, etc.
How Much Does a
BigCommerce Website Cost in UK?
There are 4
BigCommerce pricing plans for you to consider: Standard ($29.95/month), Plus
($79.95/month), Pro ($249.95), and Enterprise (custom pricing).
In most cases, the
store owners will look for a trusted BigCommerce website development company to
build their website. The thing is that the number of BigCommerce Agency is much
lower than that of Magento and Shopify. Also, the cost of creating a BigCommerce
website starts from $3,000.
Examples of
BigCommerce websites: natori.com, rollienation.com, ezpzfun.com, skullcandy.com, stagarms.com, shopthomaspaul.com
4. Volusion
Volusion provides
almost everything you need to build an eCommerce store as you want.
The outstanding
features of Volusion include responsive theme, rich content editor, custom
domain, navigator editor, product and catalog search, homepage slideshow, CSS
editor, barcode generator, vendor codes, product variant pricing,
warehouses, firewall settings, and so on. Although these features are not
as powerful as Magento’s, it’s enough for you to build a basic eCommerce
website.
Before deciding to go
for Volusion, you can try it for free within 14 days (no credit card
required).
How Much Does It Cost
To Develop A Website On Volusion?
You will be charged
from $29 to $299 per month for using Volusion eCommerce platform (based on your
annual sales revenue). Similar to Shopify, you can set up a Volusion website
yourself or hire a reliable website development company to do it. The hourly
rate of Volusion developers in UK is often in the range of $70-150.
Examples of Salesforce websites: kitchen-universe.com, globalonesupply.com, fascofas.com, brucerossmeyer.com, mathieupoulain.com
5. Drupal
The final name that we
want to mention in this list of eCommerce platforms in UK is Drupal. This
open-source platform comes with both strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths: free
acquisition, high security, powerful content management, SEO and mobile
friendly, quality support, great built-in features, scalability, and large
community.
Weaknesses: required
advanced programming knowledge, out-of-date documentation, quite slow
speed, backward compatibility, etc.
How Much Does A Drupal
eCommerce Website Cost?
Since it requires
strong technical skills to develop a Drupal eCommerce website, it’s relatively
pricey to hire a Drupal web design and development company. From some reference
sources, it will cost at least $5,000 to build an online store on Drupal from
the beginning.
Furthermore, compared
to Magento website development, it can take a longer time for Drupal
development.
Examples of Drupal
websites: instyle.de, mattel.com, virgin.com, warchild.org.uk, princeofwales.gov.uk
Among Above eCommerce Platforms in UK, Which One Is Most Suitable For Your Business?
So, our top 5
eCommerce platforms in UK include Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, Volusion, and
Drupal. Each platform has its own advantages and disadvantages. Depending on
your specific needs and budget that you can select the most suitable one.
However, from our experience, Magento might be the best one among all available
eCommerce platforms in UK. On the one hand, this platform can satisfy the needs
and requirements of both small to large online businesses. On the other hand,
it’s very reasonable to develop a new eCommerce website on Magento,
compared to the others.
