How to Set Up an Online Shop in UK Using Shopify: A Complete Guide

The UK online retail market is booming – it is expected to hit about £177.1 billion in 2024, with roughly 25.9% of all retail sales happening online, as of March 2025. This means there are millions of UK shoppers looking for online product just like yours.

If you’re ready to tap into this growth, Shopify makes it surprisingly easy to launch an online store. It also helps migrate from other ecommerce platforms seamlessly. Still, UK merchants face unique challenges (VAT rules, Brexit-related taxes, shipping logistics, etc.), so planning carefully is key. Below is a step-by-step guide, with up-to-date tips, that walks you through opening a Shopify store in the UK and highlights why working with a Shopify UK agency can boost your chances of success.

Let’s jump straight into it!

How to Set Up an Online Shop in UK Using Shopify

1. Research & Plan Your UK Store

Before you build anything, do your homework:

• Choose products and niche: Identify what you’ll sell and who your customers are. Research competitors in your niche (both online and high street). Use this step to understand industry dynamics, such as margins and costs. There are various pricing research tools and services available online for this part, like Priceva.
• Legal setup: Decide your business structure (sole trader or limited company) and register it. If you expect over £90,000 in sales in a 12-month period, you must register for VAT with HMRC. Once registered, you’ll charge 20% VAT on taxable sales and submit quarterly returns. (Staying under the £90k threshold avoids VAT rules, but don’t skip registration if you exceed it.)
• Budget & resources: Outline how much you can spend on your store. Consider Shopify’s plans (starting around £19/month for the Basic plan), plus costs like domain, marketing, product photography, and any custom development. Also, create an estimate of sales and expected profitability. All of these elements are part of a solid business plan, which is essential for starting a business. Banks also require a formal plan for loan considerations – invest in one!
• Business essentials: Set up a UK business bank account. Think about obtaining business insurance, and ensure you understand UK consumer laws (returns policy, data protection, the Consumer Rights Act, etc.).

2. Sign Up for Shopify & Choose a Plan

1. Create your Shopify account: Go to shopify.com/uk and start the free trial. Enter your store name, email, and password. Shopify will ask a few questions about you and your business (type of products, etc.).
2. Pick a plan: Shopify provides a 3 month trial at 1 pound sterling. During (or after) the trial, choose a plan that fits your needs. Shopify plans in the UK start at £19/month (Basic), with higher tiers at £49 (Grow) and £259 (Advanced). Each plan supports an online store, inventory management, and marketing tools. (All plans include 24/7 support and SSL security.) Remember: Shopify Payments (Shopify’s built-in gateway) has no monthly fee and lets you accept all major cards and digital wallets in GBP, while skipping it incurs extra transaction fees.
3. Enter store details: In your Shopify dashboard, add your business address (UK address), telephone, and choose GBP as your default currency. This ensures pricing, taxes, and payments work correctly for UK sales.

3. Add a Domain Name

A professional domain helps customers trust you. In Shopify, you can use a free yourstorename.myshopify.com subdomain to start, but we recommend buying a custom domain:

• Use a .co.uk domain if your audience is primarily UK-based. This can improve credibility and SEO.
• Buy a domain via Shopify or a UK registrar (e.g. GoDaddy, Namecheap). Shopify will guide you to connect it to your store.
• If you already have a domain, transfer it or point its DNS records to Shopify. Make sure to update your domain in Shopify’s Domains settings.

Tip: Choose a domain that reflects your brand and is easy to spell. Avoid special characters or very long names.

4. Customize Your Store’s Look (Themes & Branding)

• Choose a theme: Shopify offers two types of themes: paid and free. Each theme comes with its list of modifications that you can make. The paid themes have more detailed and robust modification options. Premium themes can cost more than $500.
• Edit with the theme editor: To modify the Shopify settings, you can click on the “Themes” to view your live theme at the top. From there you can make customized changes to your theme. However, before you start modifying the theme, it is highly recommended to duplicate the theme. This is because just in case you don’t like the modification, you can always revert to the initial theme and start again.
• Add branding: Upload your logo, set your brand colors, and include consistent fonts. Make sure your store’s style reflects your brand identity and appeals to UK customers.
• Optimize for mobile: Check the mobile preview in the editor. Ensure buttons and menus are easy to tap. Ensuring your site is optimized for mobile also helps SEO – as Google focuses on indexing and ranking the mobile version of a page.

If you need a unique design or extra features not in stock themes, consider hiring a developer or an agency to design a custom theme/app. A Shopify agency (like Folio3) can build a custom theme or customize an existing one, giving you a standout look and smooth user experience.

5. Add Products and Key Content

Now fill your store with what you’re selling:

• Products: In the Shopify admin, go to Products > Add product. Enter a clear title and engaging description. Include relevant UK keywords (e.g. if you sell socks, mention “men’s socks UK” or “free UK shipping” as appropriate) to help SEO. (Note: don’t overdo it. Search engines can identify locations relatively easily themselves).
• High-quality images: Upload professional photos. UK shoppers notice quality: combining branded banners and graphics with high-resolution product photos can greatly boost conversions. Use consistent aspect ratios and show products from multiple angles.
• Variants and collections: If products come in sizes or colors, add variants. Group similar products into Collections (e.g. “Men’s Clothing”, “Accessories”) to make browsing easier.
• Essential pages: Create an About Us page to introduce your brand. Add Contact information and an FAQ. Importantly, add Policy pages (Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Returns Policy, Shipping Info). Shopify can auto-generate templates for these, which you should customize with your business details. Clear policies build trust and are legally required for UK online stores.

Highlight: UK law requires online retailers to provide certain information (e.g. your company address, details of return rights). Ensure these are on your site to avoid fines.

• Search & Navigation: Use Shopify’s navigation menus to create a logical menu (e.g. “Home”, “Shop”, “About”, “Contact”). A good navigation helps customers find products easily, which improves user experience.

6. Set Up Payments

You want to make it as easy as possible for UK customers to pay:

• Shopify Payments: Activate it for the most seamless checkout. It lets you accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay, and other methods with no transaction fees. Funds can be deposited in your UK bank account in GBP.
• Additional gateways: If you prefer or need alternatives, add PayPal (widely used in the UK) and Stripe. You can also offer buy-now-pay-later options via apps (e.g. Klarna, Clearpay) which are popular in the UK market.
• Currency support: Shopify supports multi-currency sales and displays prices in local currency for international customers. This is handy if you plan to expand beyond the UK.
• Test payments: Before launch, do a test transaction (Shopify has a “Bogus Gateway” test mode) to ensure the checkout flow works correctly.

⚠️ Watch out: If you do not use Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an extra 1–2% fee per transaction. This means your costs go up if you only enable third-party processors. Where possible, Shopify Payments is best for UK stores.

7. Configure Shipping & Taxes

Getting orders delivered efficiently (and legally) is critical:

• Shipping zones: In Settings > Shipping, set up shipping profiles. Define zones for the UK and any other regions you ship to. For UK, you might set flat rates (e.g. £3 standard, free over £50) or use real-time rates from carriers like Royal Mail, DPD, or Evri (via Shopify integrations). Clearly state shipping times on product pages.
• Returns and delivery info: UK customers expect easy returns (14 days cooling-off period). Create a fair returns policy page. Also consider adding a “Shipping info” page explaining costs and delivery times. Transparency builds trust.
• Taxes (VAT): In Settings > Taxes and duties, make sure UK taxes are enabled. Shopify can automatically calculate 20% VAT for UK orders. Remember to charge VAT if registered. After Brexit, new rules apply: for example, UK sellers must collect VAT on goods (even low-value items) shipped into the UK, and file quarterly returns. Review Shopify’s tax settings carefully or get professional advice to ensure compliance.
• International considerations: If you ship to the EU from the UK, note that orders above £135 may incur EU import VAT and duties, usually paid by the customer. Clarify this in your shop to avoid surprises. Tools like Shopify’s EU tax automation can simplify this.

UK Tip: Offering free UK shipping (perhaps with a minimum spend) is a top incentive for shoppers. Even if your products are from abroad, you can build the shipping cost into the price and advertise “Free UK delivery” in product titles and meta descriptions, which helps SEO.

8. Test, Launch, and Promote

With everything set up, you’re ready to go live:

• Review your store: Preview your site on desktop and mobile. Click through each page, ensure images load, and test the checkout with a real or test transaction. Fix broken links or typos.
• Remove password: In Online Store > Preferences, disable password protection to make your store publicly accessible.
• Launch marketing: Announce your store opening! Use social media (Instagram, Facebook), email newsletters, and any prior contacts. Offer an opening discount code or special deal to encourage first buyers.
• SEO & content marketing: Shopify has built-in SEO tools. Write unique product titles and meta descriptions using keywords UK customers search for (e.g. including “UK”, “shop”, or product specifics). Use Shopify’s blog feature to publish helpful content (e.g. style guides, how-tos) to attract organic traffic. As Magneto notes, optimizing meta titles, descriptions, and image alt text can significantly improve your UK search rankings.
• Monitor performance: Check Shopify’s analytics (traffic, sales) and Google Analytics to see how visitors behave. Use these insights to adjust product offerings or marketing tactics.

How much does it cost to set up an online shop with Shopify in the UK?

The overall cost of opening an online shop with Shopify will differ depending on the size, features, customization, and other stuff. However, in general, Shopify offers three individual plans for setting up online stores:

1. Basic Shopify

Cost: $29 per month

This is the cheapest plan on offer. It includes all the features and tools you would need to set up and start an online store. It’s important to note that $29/month is the fee of the platform and that you will be paying extra for any third-party integration.

Also, you will be paying 2.9% + 30 cents for each transaction made at the store through an online credit card, whereas, 2.7% fee is charged for all transactions made with an in-person credit card. Also, if you are using any payment gateway other than “Shopify Payments”, you will be paying 2% of the sale in the fee.

Now let’s look at some of the features you get with the Basic Shopify Plan:

• 24/7 support
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certification
• Discount codes
• Automatic abandoned cart recovery emails
• Shopify POS Lite
• Multiple Sales channels (sell on social media or online market places)
• Customized gift cards
• Printing shipping labels
• Staff accounts

2. Grow Shopify

Cost: $49 per month

You will be paying $49 for this plan, in return for some advanced features, and functionalities. The biggest difference between the Grow Shopify and Shopify Basic plans is that the former is for small & medium companies, whereas, Shopify Basic is more suited for individuals.

You will also be paying a 1% fee for all payments made using payment gateways other than Shopify Payment.

The Grow plan includes all the features of Shopify Basic plus additional Staff accounts (up to 5).

3. Advanced Shopify

Cost: $299 per month

The Advance Shopify plan is meant for large companies with a huge product range and offerings. Besides being the most expensive of all the plans, Advance Shopify also brings in some robust features and tools that enable businesses to grow and scale rapidly.

In terms of cost, you will be paying upfront of $299 for the platform, plus 2.4% + 30 cents for all transactions made through an online credit card, whereas, 2.4% fee will be charged for every transaction made through in-person credit card. Also, you will be charged a 0.6% fee for all transactions made using any gateway other than Shopify Payments.

New features include 15 additional staff accounts and localized selling options.

Key Challenges for UK Store Owners

Starting a Shopify store is straightforward, but UK merchants should be aware of common hurdles:

• Complex taxes and Brexit rules: Navigating VAT and import duties post-Brexit can be tricky. Missing a VAT registration deadline or mischarging VAT can lead to fines. Using Shopify’s tax settings and consulting an accountant helps avoid problems.
• Shipping delays and costs: Overseas suppliers or carriers can suffer delays. Factor in longer delivery times for customers and consider UK-based warehousing or dropshipping partners if possible. Clear communication of delivery times is crucial.
• Competition and marketing: The UK market is competitive (think Amazon UK, eBay, and big retail chains). You need a clear marketing plan and a standout brand. Invest time in social media advertising, SEO, and quality customer service.
• Budgeting for extras: While Shopify is easy to use, some apps and themes are paid. It’s easy to get carried away with apps (SEO boosters, review apps, etc.), but each one can add cost. Plan which features you truly need to avoid surprise expenses.

By anticipating these challenges, you’ll be better prepared. And remember, you don’t have to go it completely alone.

Why Hire a Shopify UK Agency

Many successful UK Shopify stores partner with experts. A Shopify UK agency (like Folio3) brings experience in building high-converting stores for British merchants. Agencies can:

• Handle technical setup (domains, APIs, integrations) so you avoid mistakes. For example, they’ll ensure VAT, shipping and payment settings are correct from the start.
• Deliver custom design and features that match UK consumer expectations. They can create unique themes, optimize mobile UX, and add advanced search or loyalty programs.
• Improve site speed and performance. A sluggish store loses customers. Agencies know how to optimize images and code for faster load times.
• Provide ongoing marketing help. Many agencies offer SEO, PPC, and social media services tailored to UK audiences. They’ll use UK-specific SEO strategies (e.g. keywords like “free UK shipping” or targeting British social platforms) to drive traffic.
• Offer support and strategy. Post-launch, agencies can help you interpret analytics, plan promotions, and scale your store. They become your continued growth and success partners.

In short, a Shopify UK agency acts like a one-stop partner to streamline setup and growth. This frees you to focus on products and customers, while experts ensure your store follows UK best practices and reaches its full potential.

Next Steps

Opening a Shopify store in the UK in 2025 is an exciting opportunity. With UK ecommerce sales at record levels  and consumer demand strong, the time to launch is now. By following the steps above — planning carefully, customizing your store, and optimizing for UK shoppers — you’ll be well on your way.

For the best results, consider working with a UK-based Shopify agency. An experienced UK partner can help you avoid common pitfalls (tax issues, slow performance, poor SEO) and create a professional store that stands out to British customers. If you’d like expert help, our team specializes in Shopify development and marketing. We can provide a free consultation to discuss your project and ensure a smooth start.

Reach out to our Shopify UK experts today to build a fast, secure, and high-performing Shopify store that drives sales!

FAQs

How much does it cost to run an online store per month by Shopify?

The cost of running an online store per month on Shopify varies greatly depending upon the business model, size, products, target market, and other factors. Shopify however offers 3 monthly pricing plans starting at $29 for Basic Shopify, $49 for Grow Shopify, and $299 for Advance Shopify.

However, you will have to pay additional costs of development, customization, integration, domain, and, marketing to successfully run an online Shopify store.

Are online boutiques profitable in the UK?

Yes, online boutiques are a highly profitable business in the UK. The online boutique industry in the UK is worth billions of pounds, which makes it one of the most profitable online businesses in the country.

Do I need to register a company to sell the online UK with the Shopify store?

Yes, you will need to register your online Shopify store in the UK.

How do I start a small online business UK using Shopify online store?

To start an online Shopify store in the UK you need to:

• Choose a Shopify plan (Basic Shopify will suffice)
• Choose your business name
• Choose the theme
• Upload your logo
• Have the services/products pages ready
• Adjust shipping settings
• Setup billing information; and
• Get ready to sell

Does Folio3 offer Shopify migration?

Yes, as a leading Shopify development agency, Folio3 offers complete Shopify migration services to stores with streamlined and proven processes to minimize delays.

Does Folio3 offer Shopify custom plugin development services?

Yes. Folio3 offers custom plugin development services for Shopify websites and stores. Custom plugin development services can be hired to either increase the efficiency and functionality of the store or to sell the plugin over the Shopify App Store.

How much to charge for the Shopify website?

Shopify website development charges vary as per the unique needs and requirements of the store. However, on average a Shopify website development may cost you anywhere between $5000 to $20,000 for a small to medium store.