Starting an online shop sounds more complicated than it is. The basics are straightforward: you need a way to display your products, a way for customers to pay, and a way to manage orders. Everything else builds from there.
This guide walks through the whole process in plain English — no jargon, no assumptions about your technical knowledge.
Step 1: Be clear about what you're selling and to whom
Before you think about platforms or design, get clear on the basics:
- What products are you selling?
- Who is your customer? (local buyers, UK-wide, specific niche?)
- How will you fulfil orders? (post them, arrange delivery, offer click and collect?)
- What's your pricing strategy, including shipping costs?
These questions shape every decision that follows. A business selling 10 handmade products to UK customers has different requirements from one selling 500 product lines to trade buyers. Know your situation before you start.
Step 2: Choose the right platform
The platform is the software your online shop runs on. The three we build at NC Digital — Shopify, WooCommerce, and SureCart — cover the full range of small business ecommerce needs. Here's a brief overview:
Shopify is a hosted platform — it handles the technical infrastructure for you. It's fast, reliable, and great for product-based businesses that want a professional store without managing servers or software updates. It has a monthly fee (starting around £25/month) plus transaction fees.
WooCommerce runs on WordPress, giving you full control and flexibility. It's ideal if you're already on WordPress, need bespoke functionality, or want to avoid ongoing platform fees. You pay for hosting but own everything outright.
SureCart is a modern solution well-suited for digital products, subscriptions, and service businesses wanting to take payments online. It's lightweight and easy to manage.
We've written a full comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce vs SureCart if you want to dig deeper before deciding. If you'd rather talk it through, we'll recommend the right one for your specific situation — it's part of what we do when we build ecommerce websites for South Wales businesses.
Step 3: Prepare your product information
A common mistake is underestimating how much content a proper online shop requires. For each product, you'll need:
- Product name — clear and searchable, not just an internal reference code
- Product description — what it is, what it does, why someone should want it; this should be written for humans, not copied from a supplier
- Photography — clear, well-lit photos from multiple angles; lifestyle images help enormously for products where context matters
- Price — and how you're handling VAT (ex-VAT or inclusive)
- Variants — sizes, colours, options, if applicable
- Stock levels — if you're tracking inventory
- Weight/dimensions — if you're integrating with a shipping calculator
Getting this content organised before your web designer starts work saves time and keeps the project on track.
Step 4: Sort out the practicalities
Before your shop goes live, you'll need:
A payment gateway — the service that processes card payments. Stripe and PayPal are the most common. Both integrate with all three of our platforms. Stripe charges around 1.4% + 20p per transaction for UK cards.
A shipping strategy — will you offer free shipping, flat-rate shipping, or calculated shipping based on weight and destination? Royal Mail, DHL, and Hermes (Evri) are common choices for small businesses. Some businesses work with a fulfilment partner as they scale.
A returns policy — UK consumer law gives online shoppers the right to return most goods within 14 days. Your returns policy needs to comply with this and be clearly stated on your site.
A domain name — yourshopname.co.uk. If you don't already have one, your web designer can help you register it. Make sure it's registered in your name.
Step 5: Work with a designer to build the store
This is where the actual build happens. A good ecommerce designer will take your products, brand, and requirements and build a store that's fully custom-designed — not a template with your logo dropped in. The design should reflect your brand, make your products look their best, and guide customers through a smooth checkout experience.
At NC Digital, we build every ecommerce site from scratch around the client's brand. Platforms are a starting point, not a finish line. Ecommerce sites start from £800 and typically take 2–4 weeks depending on the number of products and complexity.
You can read more about the process in what to expect when you commission a custom ecommerce website.
Step 6: Set up tracking before you launch
Before your shop goes live, make sure Google Analytics and Google Search Console are both set up. Analytics shows you where your traffic comes from and what visitors do on your site. Search Console shows you how your site appears in Google search results.
Both are free, and both are invaluable for understanding what's working and where to improve.
Step 7: Launch and tell people
Your shop won't get traffic by existing — you need to actively push people towards it, especially in the early weeks. Tell your existing customers. Post on social media. Send an email if you have a list. Consider a launch offer to incentivise early orders.
Over the longer term, local SEO helps your shop appear in Google searches for your products. Building that organic presence is a longer game, but it's the most cost-effective source of ecommerce traffic once it's established.
What does it cost to start selling online?
A proper ecommerce setup — professional design, the right platform, working checkout — starts from £800. The final price depends on how many products you have, which platform is right for you, and what features you need.
We've broken this down in detail in how much an ecommerce website costs in the UK.
If you're based in South Wales and ready to start selling online, get in touch with NC Digital. We'll talk through your business, recommend the right approach, and build you a shop that works.