Shopify as a Website Builder in the UK: What Nobody Tells You

I get asked this question constantly: “Should I use Shopify to build my website?”

And the honest answer is: it depends what you mean by “website.”

The Shopify Reality for UK Businesses

Shopify handles about 10% of all UK ecommerce. That’s a serious number. The platform is genuinely good at what it does — product management, payment processing, inventory, shipping, the whole operational backbone of selling things online.

But here’s where the marketing gets ahead of the reality.

Shopify’s own advertising positions it as a website builder. “Build your website,” the homepage says. And technically, that’s true. You can build a website on Shopify. You can also hammer a nail with a spanner. Doesn’t mean you should.

When Shopify Is the Right Choice

I’ve built and migrated plenty of Shopify stores. EKM to Shopify, Wix to Shopify, ground-up builds. I recommend Shopify when:

• You’re selling physical products — Shopify’s inventory management, variant handling, and order processing are genuinely best-in-class
• You need payment processing — Shopify Payments works out of the box in the UK with competitive rates
• You want to sell on multiple channels — Shopify connects to Amazon, eBay, Instagram, and TikTok natively. I covered this in my multi-channel selling guide
• You need shipping automation — especially important for UK businesses dealing with postcode-based shipping rates to the Highlands, Northern Ireland, and Channel Islands

If your business model is “people give me money for things I post to them,” Shopify earns its monthly fee every day.

When Shopify Is the Wrong Choice

This is the bit that Shopify’s marketing department would rather I didn’t write.

Service businesses. Plumbers, accountants, consultants, coaches, photographers. You don’t need a checkout. You don’t need inventory management. You don’t need variant handling. You need a website that loads fast, ranks well, and makes the phone ring.

Brochure sites. If your website is five pages — Home, About, Services, Portfolio, Contact — Shopify is overkill. You’re paying for ecommerce infrastructure you’ll never use.

Content-led businesses. Bloggers, publishers, media companies. Shopify’s CMS is functional but basic. It wasn’t designed for content-first sites.

Anyone who cares about page speed. And you should care, because Google does.

Shopify themes are loaded with JavaScript. App scripts pile up. The liquid templating engine adds overhead. A typical Shopify store scores 30-50 on Google PageSpeed Insights.

The sites I build on Astro score 100. That’s not a marginal difference — it’s a category difference.

The Real Cost of Shopify in the UK

The pricing page says £25/month for Basic. Here’s what it actually costs to run a proper UK Shopify store:

That’s before you’ve paid anyone to set it up properly. A Shopify store that actually converts needs custom theme work, proper product photography, SEO-optimised descriptions, and someone who understands what shipping rates to set so you’re not bleeding money on Highland deliveries.

I offer Shopify design packages that include all of this — because I’ve seen too many business owners spend months trying to figure it out themselves.

The Honest Recommendation

Here’s my decision tree. Twenty-six years simplified into four questions:

1. Are you selling physical products? → Shopify. Don’t overthink it.
2. Are you selling services? → You need a website, not a shop.
3. Are you selling digital products? → Shopify can do this, but so can simpler platforms. Depends on volume.
4. Do you need both a shop and a content site? → This is where it gets interesting. I build hybrid setups — Astro for the marketing site (fast, SEO-optimised), Shopify for the checkout (reliable, battle-tested). Best of both worlds.

What I’d Do If I Were Starting a UK Ecommerce Business Today

I’d start with the product, not the platform.

If I had products ready to ship, I’d go Shopify. I’d get the shipping rates right from day one. I’d invest in proper product photography. I’d set up multi-channel selling so I’m not dependent on one traffic source.

If I had a service to sell, I’d build a fast site on Astro, get the SEO foundations solid, and spend the money I saved on Shopify subscriptions on content that actually ranks.

Either way, I’d talk to someone who’s done both before building anything. Not because I’m selling — because the wrong platform choice costs you six months, not six quid.