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eCommerce Website Cost in the UK [Full Cost Breakdown 2023]

The United Kingdom (UK) has the most sophisticated eCommerce market in Europe.

According to the most current estimates from the Office of National Statistics (UK), the country’s eCommerce income in 2019 amounted to 693 billion GBP, a substantial rise over the previous year.

In terms of online shopping in Europe, the United Kingdom leads the way. In 2021, the revenue of eCommerce in the UK rose to a total of 129 billion British pounds.

This figure is almost 15% up from the £112.7 billion in 2020.

A year-wise comparison between retail eCommerce sales vs. non-eCommerce sales by eMarketer

While you need to keep a tab on eCommerce trends as an entrepreneur, the cost part varies a lot. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to eCommerce website cost. But to make things easier for you, in this article, we will be discussing the right approach, factors, and approximate cost of creating an eCommerce website in the UK.

If you want an accurate price, you will first need to gauge your requirements and finalise the features you would like to host. A lot of factors affect the cost of eCommerce development in the UK.

It begins with a web design brief so that they can get to know you and your project inside and out.

Post this; you will have a range of features and technology stacks to choose from for your eCommerce website.

Intelivita is a top e-commerce development company that helps you align your eCommerce website's infrastructure with the latest trends using the best modernization approaches.

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How Much Does an eCommerce Website Cost in the UK?

When it comes to launching an eCommerce business, the common question that arises is, "How much does it cost to build an eCommerce website in the UK?" On average, eCommerce website creation can cost within the £5000 to £25,000 range or may exceed these figures depending on the website's complexity.

In this situation, you have a few alternatives from Shopify (self-hosted, pay monthly) to major systems like Magento. A lot would also depend on whether or not you want a fully tailored experience for your buyers.

Your eCommerce website price will also vary depending on the number of goods you sell, requirements for different payment gateways, and the need for other third-party tools.

Let us break down the eCommerce website cost based on your project type to help you get the right budget for the eCommerce site.

Illustration of an eCommerce web development cost based on website types and functionalities

As mentioned, the size of your eCommerce site will play a significant role. Here, we will help you gauge the costs of an eCommerce website based on the business size.

1. Small to medium eCommerce website costing

If you have limited products or services (like education courses) and want to go with minimal features to get started, you can consider the following eCommerce website price.

Examples: maundies.com, marchtee.com, etc.

Small to medium eCommerce site cost
Factor Cost
Design £2,500
Online Store annual cost £250 to £1000 - Depending on host
Hosting £250 to £350 a year
Domain name Varies a lot depending on availability. Starts with minimum £15/year and goes up to £500 (or even more)
SSL certificate £50/year
Maintenance £1,000+/year
Cost in first year £4,400+
Ongoing annual cost £2,500+

2. Large-scale eCommerce site

If your business deals with dynamism in terms of products and services, you can expect the costs mentioned below. These costs are for businesses dealing with a constant update of products and services and need to move inventories almost everyday.

Examples: shoprevelry.com, nordstorm.com

Cost of a large eCommerce website
Factor Cost
Design £4,500
Hosting £750/year
Domain name Varies a lot depending on availability. Starts with minimum £15/year and goes up to £500 (or even more)
SSL certificate £50/year
Maintenance £4,500+/year
Cost in first year £8,500
Ongoing annual cost £5,500+

3. Large bespoke eCommerce site cost

If you want to be an aggregator like eBay and Amazon, you will need a large, bespoke eCommerce website. These sites would allow sellers to host small stores within the website.

Cost of a large eCommerce website
Factor Cost
Design £10,000+
Hosting £1,500+/year
Domain name Varies a lot depending on availability. Starts with minimum £15/year and goes up to £500 (or even more)
SSL certificate £50/year
Maintenance £10,000+/year
Cost in first year £20,500+/year
Ongoing annual cost £15,000+/year

What Are the Types of eCommerce Websites?

For the answer to how much does it cost to make a website, the answer gets complicated due to the range of technology and expertise required. But, over here we will try and help you answer the question on how much does an eCommerce website cost?

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It requires you to consider your website size, models, and scopes. And depending on your site, you will need to choose from a range of approaches to conducting business and managing levels of sophistication.

As a result, the cost of an eCommerce website will be influenced by the platform you choose as well as the time to build the website.

Single brand website

A brand may choose to go online by creating an eCommerce store. These stores will sell items from a single brand, and they are amongst the most prevalent and easiest to build.

You can create a storefront with items, listings, and the option to add them, as well as a shopping cart with checkout. Once you have those, you can have your website up and running.

Examples of a single brand website include Nike, Puma, Levis, and a host of other well-known companies.

Online retail website

Many online stores selling items from other brands rely on this platform. Creating such eCommerce websites is more complex as they need a larger product selection. And this means you will require extra server-side effort to provide a seamless user experience.

You can consider Decathlon and Dick's Sporting Goods as examples of a retailer who are specialised in sportswear. Rather than making its products, the business buys from well-known companies and resells them at its location.

For instance, you will get sports goods from brands like Quechua, Columbia, NorthFace, Patagonia, Kalenji, and plenty of others hosted on Decathlon and Dick's Sporting Goods.

eCommerce marketplaces

This kind of eCommerce website is like a shopping mall in itself. Here, small business owners and independent vendors sell their items. Amazon, eBay and Etsy are a few of the most popular marketplaces.

Running an eCommerce marketplace will need you to provide individual sellers with complete control over their accounts, their performance, and so on. Other than that, merchants can set the pricing of their items, upload images, and write product briefs to engage buyers.

Creating an eCommerce marketplace is challenging and will increase your eCommerce website price.

Additionally, you need to include advanced features like analytics, stock control, shipment management, and much more to ensure the smooth running of your eCommerce website.

Factors Affecting the Cost of eCommerce Website Development

eCommerce website development projects are highly dynamic and therefore, it is almost impossible to come up with a fixed price. This is because of a wide range of options and factors that affect the overall eCommerce website design and development cost.

The best way to get an approximate cost of eCommerce website development is to identify factors that affect the cost. The only way to receive an accurate quote is to speak to an eCommerce website development company in the UK and discuss the following aspects.

Have your web design company take the time to get to know you and your project well.

1. Your business needs

You must have heard businesses speaking about "minimum viable product" (MVP). You can create an MVP for your eCommerce website during its early stages. Think about what you really must have to assure the website's success, rather than what you'd want to have.

Begin with creating a spreadsheet and list out the needs and help you achieve goals. This will help the eCommerce web development team know the starting point for first conversations, thereby giving you a cost estimation.

2. Design

Some of the best eCommerce website platforms allow you to buy themes to get your store started quickly. While it is not recommended, you can opt for this if you are too concerned about eCommerce website pricing.

An off-the-shelf theme is ideal if you have limited funds or don't have any custom functionality requirements.

Suppose you want to create a website for eCommerce that can impact and drive more sales, go for custom design.

A bespoke eCommerce website design embodies what your online business is all about. This makes your brand and website instantly recognisable and perfectly aligned with your values.

It helps you build a stronger connection with your clients going forward compared to a cheap eCommerce website design that is ready to use.

3. Development

You can also find off-the-shelf themes with generic designs if you are just interested in standard eCommerce website functionality. Since you have the theme ready, you won't have to wait weeks to complete development.

However, if you want customised designs, you'll likely need to engage an eCommerce website design company that can help you with eCommerce design and development needs. With a customized eCommerce platform, you will have more control over what to put on the site, keep consistency in design, and enhance branding activities.

You can opt for off-the-shelf themes designed to drive more sales and appeal to a wide audience. Also, your technology stack for eCommerce website development can affect your cost. For instance, you have various options like JavaScript, Vue.js, Node.js, etc., on the front-end and web servers, C#, and database management on the back-end.

Similarly, you must consider different feature-based expenses like payment processing costs, push notifications, and others. All such choices will affect the eCommerce project cost as you must rely on resources with a sound technical background.

4. Hosting

Web hosting is the basic requirement for any business wanting to go online. You'll have all your website's files in this location. Moreover, you will need to buy a domain name that accurately identifies your website.

This is why considering the hosting costs becomes crucial while estimating the total expense of building an eCommerce website.

Here are the two common ways to host your eCommerce website.

  • Self-hosted eCommerce website

Self-hosted eCommerce platforms are a collection of open-source applications that need web hosting to function. You can choose to self-host by purchasing an eCommerce website hosting package and installing it.

There are many hosting providers and you need to compare them to choose an optimal one.

There are two popular eCommerce platforms that you can choose— Magento and WooCommerce.

  • SaaS eCommerce Platforms

There are many eCommerce platforms available as SaaS. It won't require you to install software, manage it, or host it yourself. Even your website hosting price will be included within the software.

A better way is to find and hire app developers for eCommerce who can leverage SaaS platforms without managing the hosting.

One such SaaS platform is Shopify. It is popular amongst many businesses as it provides an easy and highly scalable eCommerce platform. This allows you to sell online without worrying about an SSL certificate. But, you will have to purchase a domain name independently.

Bottomline

In today's world, people who don't like going to brick-and-mortar stores are looking for new and exciting ways to engage with brands on the internet. An ideal solution involves creating an eCommerce website which is both difficult and expensive.

The best way is to frame the budget of an eCommerce website and approach the right features and technology. And then, let the technical team test each idea, so you do not need to overpay during the development stages.

You have an array of eCommerce software development tools and technologies to choose from and each of these will cost you differently. Make the right choice so that you do not compromise on the quality while keeping it within your budget.

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Posted In:
  • eCommerce
  • Oliver-Author
    Oliver Baker
    Co-Founder

    Oliver Baker is a co-founder of Intelivita, a leading Web and Mobile App Development Company based in Leeds, UK. Oliver has been at the forefront of the business, expanding it globally and into new technologies including iOS and Android, AR, VR and Mobile Game applications. Oliver excels in Project Management, Leadership, Quality Assurance and Problem Solving and has qualifications with Prince2 and APM. He aims to develop his skills further through a shared interest with other leaders in the Software Markets and the Clients of Intelivita.

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