Shopify or WooCommerce for a UK online store

If you are starting or rebuilding an online store in the UK, the choice often comes down to two platforms: Shopify, or WordPress with WooCommerce. Both can take card payments, show prices with VAT included, connect to UK couriers and look exactly the way you want. They differ in who looks after the technology, how much control you have and how much running the store involves. This guide compares them on the points that matter most for a UK store. It is general information; for VAT and customs questions, speak to an accountant or check GOV.UK.

How are Shopify and WooCommerce different?

Shopify is a hosted platform you subscribe to. Shopify runs the servers, applies security updates and manages the checkout. You manage products, orders and design from Shopify's admin, and you work within Shopify's rules: the checkout can only be changed in the ways Shopify allows, and much extra functionality comes from apps.

WooCommerce is open-source software that adds a store to a WordPress website. You install it on hosting you choose, and you control every file and every row of data. You are also responsible for updates, security, backups and speed, or for arranging someone to look after them.

Which payment options can a UK store use?

Shopify Payments, Shopify's own payment provider, is available to businesses in the United Kingdom. It covers credit and debit cards, accelerated checkouts and local payment methods. Shopify also works with third-party payment providers if you prefer a different one.

WooCommerce's own payment extension, WooPayments, is available to merchants based in the United Kingdom. WooCommerce extensions are also available for payment providers such as Stripe and PayPal, so you can choose the provider whose terms suit you best.

On both platforms, compare the providers you are considering on the payment methods your customers expect, how quickly payouts reach your bank, how refunds and chargebacks are handled, and each provider's current terms and charges on its own website.

How do you set up VAT?

GOV.UK explains when you must register for VAT: when your taxable turnover goes over the VAT threshold in the last 12 months, or when you expect it to go over in the next 30 days. You can also register voluntarily below the threshold. GOV.UK publishes the current threshold, so check it there rather than relying on a figure from a third-party article.

If you sell to consumers, the prices they see should include VAT: GOV.UK's guidance on advertising says your adverts must describe the actual cost accurately, including taxes such as VAT. Both platforms support this:

• Shopify: under Settings, then Taxes and duties, you can add your UK VAT registration and choose to include tax in your prices. Shopify's help centre notes that in countries such as the United Kingdom, displayed prices need to include tax.
• WooCommerce: the tax settings let you choose whether you enter prices inclusive or exclusive of tax, and whether the shop, cart and checkout display prices including tax. You enter the VAT rates in tax tables, with a standard class and extra classes such as reduced and zero rate, or use an automated tax extension.

Ask your accountant which VAT rate applies to each of your products and what your invoices need to show, then set up the store to match.

What changes when you sell to EU customers?

Since Brexit, goods sent from Great Britain to customers in the EU are exports, and EU VAT and customs rules apply in the destination country. For low-value consignments, the EU's Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) lets a seller charge EU VAT at the point of sale and report it in one monthly return. GOV.UK explains that businesses in Great Britain must appoint an intermediary to register and act for them, and that sellers who do not use IOSS follow the VAT rules of the EU country where the goods are sold. Different rules apply to goods moving from Northern Ireland.

Both platforms can show EU customers prices and charge VAT at checkout, but the platform does not decide what you owe. Take advice before you start selling to the EU, and check how duties and taxes will be shown to customers so they are not surprised on delivery.

How do shipping and couriers work?

Both platforms let you set shipping zones and rates, such as UK mainland, Highlands and Islands, and international. Couriers and shipping platforms then connect to your store to import orders, print labels and send tracking details. Woo, the company behind WooCommerce, offers a Royal Mail Shipping Method extension that shows Royal Mail and Parcelforce rates at checkout, and many other carriers and shipping platforms offer their own Shopify apps and WooCommerce plugins. Before you choose, check that the couriers you plan to use work with your platform, and test the whole flow from order to delivery to return.

Which gives you more control?

WooCommerce gives you more. You can change any part of the store, including the checkout, add custom fields, connect to almost any system with an API and move to another host whenever you like. Because WordPress began as a publishing platform, it is also strong for content such as buying guides, blogs and landing pages.

Shopify gives you less control but more consistency. Themes are built in Liquid, apps extend the admin and the storefront, and Shopify Functions and checkout extensions allow certain checkout changes. You cannot move a Shopify store to your own server; if you leave, you export your data and rebuild the store elsewhere.

Apps, plugins and running effort

Both platforms rely on add-ons. Shopify has its App Store; WooCommerce has its own marketplace and the wider WordPress plugin directory. Each add-on can add scripts to your pages and another account to manage, so install only what you need and remove what you no longer use.

For a small team without a developer, Shopify is usually easier to run. There are no servers to manage, platform updates happen automatically and the admin app works well on a phone. Busy periods such as Black Friday are handled by Shopify's infrastructure.

WooCommerce is just as easy to use day to day once it is set up well, but somebody has to look after the technical side: updating WordPress, WooCommerce and plugins, choosing good hosting, monitoring speed and security, and taking backups. A store that is not maintained becomes slow and vulnerable, so plan for maintenance from the start.

Which should you choose?

As a rule of thumb:

• Choose Shopify if you want to launch quickly, have a straightforward catalogue, do not have technical staff and prefer hosting, security and the checkout to be handled for you.
• Choose WooCommerce if you already have a WordPress website with a lot of content, need unusual product options or checkout steps, want your data on hosting you control, and can arrange regular maintenance.

A well-built store on either platform will serve most UK businesses well. We build on both: see our ecommerce development in the UK, Shopify development and ecommerce development pages, read how to choose a Shopify developer, or contact us to talk through your store.

Sources

• Shopify Help: Shopify Payments supported countries
• Shopify Help: Including or excluding tax in product prices
• Shopify Help: Managing UK taxes
• WooCommerce: WooPayments supported countries
• WooCommerce: Setting up taxes in WooCommerce
• WooCommerce: Setting up shipping zones
• WooCommerce Marketplace: Royal Mail Shipping Method
• GOV.UK: Register for VAT
• GOV.UK: Marketing and advertising: the law: describing your product
• GOV.UK: Check if you can register for the VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme