I build on all three approaches, so I have no horse in this race. Here's the honest comparison UK small business owners actually need in 2026.
Shopify — best for serious sellers
- Monthly cost: £25–£289+
- Best for: Stores doing £30k+/year, brands that want to scale, anyone shipping physical product at volume
- Strengths: Best-in-class checkout (lifts conversion 5–15% on its own), Shop Pay, huge app ecosystem, rock-solid uptime, brilliant inventory tools
- Weaknesses: Transaction fees if you don't use Shopify Payments, theme customisation has a learning curve, content/blog tools are basic
Wix eCommerce — best for first stores under £30k/year
- Monthly cost: £22–£139
- Best for: New stores, service businesses adding a small shop, anyone who needs a beautiful site they can edit themselves
- Strengths: Genuinely the easiest to use, beautiful templates, integrated bookings/blog/email all-in-one, no plugin maintenance
- Weaknesses: Outgrows you eventually if you scale past a few hundred orders/month, fewer specialist apps than Shopify
Custom-built eCommerce — best for unique or scaling brands
- Cost: £8k–£40k+ one-off, then hosting/maintenance
- Best for: Established brands that need bespoke product configurators, B2B trade portals, multi-warehouse logistics, or experiences no template can deliver
- Strengths: Exactly the UX you want, no per-transaction fees, total control of data and integrations, scales infinitely
- Weaknesses: Bigger upfront investment and you need an ongoing development partner
My honest recommendation
- Under £30k/year or unsure if eCommerce will work: Wix eCommerce
- Growing fast, physical product at volume: Shopify
- Established brand with bespoke needs or B2B workflows: Custom build
The platform is rarely what makes or breaks a store — product, photography, traffic and customer service do. Pick the one you'll actually use, and ship.
