Do you work with Shopify stores?

Yes — Shopify is my core platform. I help solo Shopify store owners with product listing, order management, customer service, and day-to-day store operations, so they can focus on growing the business rather than running it.

Do you work with WooCommerce stores?

Yes. I support WooCommerce stores alongside Shopify. I can help with product uploads, order processing, and general store management tasks.

Do you help with Amazon and eBay?

Yes. I offer Amazon Marketplace Management and eBay Store Management as core services, covering listings, inventory, and account operations across both platforms.

What does an e-commerce virtual assistant actually do?

An e-commerce VA handles the operational tasks that eat your time but don't need you personally — product listings, order processing, customer enquiries, admin, and research. It frees you up to focus on strategy, growth, and the work only you can do.

What is your pricing?

Pricing is based on the scope and volume of work required. I offer flexible support packages tailored to your business needs. Get in touch and I'll put together a quote based on what you actually need.

Are you based in the UK?

Yes — I'm based in Hove, Brighton, and work with e-commerce businesses across the UK. All communication happens in UK business hours and you'll always be dealing with one person, not a team.

How quickly can you start?

Typically I can onboard new clients within a few days of our initial conversation. Get in touch to discuss your requirements and we'll agree a start date that works for you.

What kind of e-commerce businesses do you work with?

I specialise in working with solo founders and small e-commerce businesses — particularly Shopify store owners in the UK. Whether you're scaling up or just need reliable support to keep things running, I can help take the operational load off your plate.

What kind of ecommerce stores do you work with in Sussex?

Primarily Shopify and WooCommerce stores run by solo founders or very small teams. Most clients sell physical products in niche, specialist, or passion-led markets. I work with businesses across Sussex and East Sussex including Brighton, Hove, Lewes, and surrounding areas.

Do I need to sign a long-term contract?

No. Most clients work on a monthly arrangement with no lock-in. Some start with a one-off project and then move to ongoing support once they see how it works. There's no pressure to commit to more than you need straight away.

What's the difference between an ecommerce VA and an ecommerce consultant?

A consultant analyses, advises, and produces recommendations. A virtual assistant actually does the work. eCommerce Assist logs into your store, makes the changes, uploads the products, and fixes the layouts. You get real outcomes, not a strategy document you have to implement yourself.

Can you help if my store is in East Sussex but I'm not near Brighton?

Yes. Almost all the work is remote so location is not a barrier. I work with founders across the UK, and the Sussex and East Sussex focus is about local relevance, not geography.

How quickly can you start?

Depending on current capacity, I can usually start within a week. Get in touch to check availability. If you've got something urgent such as a product launch or a site issue costing you sales, mention it upfront.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which Should UK Founders Use?

Choosing between WooCommerce vs Shopify for your UK small business? Here's what actually matters for a non-technical solo founder who wants to get selling.

6/29/20265 min read

If you're a UK solo founder trying to choose between WooCommerce and Shopify, the short answer is this: for most non-technical store owners, Shopify is the lower-risk, faster path to trading. But "most" is not "all," and the wrong choice will cost you more in the long run than you'd expect. Here's how to make the right call for your situation.

What's the Actual Difference Between Shopify and WooCommerce?

Shopify is a hosted platform. You pay a monthly subscription, and Shopify handles the servers, security, software updates, and payment processing infrastructure. Your job is to run the store.

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. It's technically free to download, but you need to buy your own hosting, manage your own WordPress installation, keep plugins updated, and deal with any conflicts or security issues yourself. The software is yours to control, which is powerful, but that control comes with responsibility.

In our experience working with UK Shopify and WooCommerce store owners, the biggest surprise for founders switching from WooCommerce to Shopify is how much time they get back. Not because WooCommerce is bad, but because the ongoing maintenance quietly eats hours that a solo founder can't afford.

How Much Does Each Platform Actually Cost in the UK?

This is where most comparison posts mislead you, because they compare the headline subscription cost without accounting for the full picture.

Shopify's UK pricing in 2026 runs from £25 a month for the Basic plan (or £19 a month on annual billing), up to £65 a month for Grow, and £250 a month for Advanced.

On top of the subscription, Shopify charges transaction fees if you use a third-party payment gateway (Stripe, PayPal, buy now pay later providers). With Shopify Payments, fees run from 2% + 25p down to 1.5% + 25p depending on your plan. Use a third-party gateway and you pay an additional 0.6% to 2% on every transaction.

WooCommerce's UK costs look different: hosting runs £5 to £40 a month depending on the provider and your traffic, a domain costs roughly £10 to £15 a year, premium themes are £40 to £80 as a one-off (or subscription), and paid plugins for features like reviews, loyalty, or subscriptions stack up fast.

A realistic WooCommerce setup for a small UK store running £5,000 to £10,000 a month in sales costs somewhere between £30 and £80 a month once you include hosting, essential plugins, and periodic developer help. Shopify at Basic sits at £25 a month before apps, but apps bring you closer to £50 to £90 a month quickly.

The gap between the two is smaller than it looks. Where the money goes is what's different.

Which Platform Is Easier to Run Without Technical Skills?

For a non-technical founder, this is probably the most important question, and Shopify wins clearly.

A Shopify store can be live in a day. You pick a theme, add your products, connect a payment method, and you're selling. No server to configure, no WordPress to install, no plugin conflicts to debug at 11pm on a Friday because your checkout stopped working.

WooCommerce is manageable at a basic level without technical skills. The problems come when things break. Plugin updates can conflict with your theme. Your hosting server can be slow. A traffic spike can bring the site down. When any of that happens, you either fix it yourself or pay a developer to sort it.

In my experience auditing WooCommerce stores, the most common issue I see is plugin bloat: founders installing five or six plugins to add basic functionality, then never keeping them updated, which creates security vulnerabilities and performance problems.

When WooCommerce Is Actually the Better Choice

There are genuine scenarios where WooCommerce makes more sense for a UK founder.

If you already have a WordPress website and want to add a shop to it, WooCommerce is the natural fit. Building a separate Shopify store and linking them creates unnecessary complexity.

If you need deep customisation that Shopify's theme system can't support (and you have a developer relationship), WooCommerce gives you full access to the codebase.

If you're building a content-heavy business where SEO is central to your strategy, WordPress has a longer track record and a more mature SEO plugin ecosystem. Shopify's SEO has improved significantly, but WordPress with a well-configured setup still has an edge for complex content architectures.

If cost is your primary constraint and you're comfortable managing a WordPress site (or have someone who can), WooCommerce is cheaper at scale.

What Are the Hidden Costs and Frustrations on Each Platform?

Every platform has things it doesn't advertise upfront. Here's what actually catches founders out.

On Shopify, most stores end up paying £30 to £100 a month in apps for reviews, upsells, email capture, and loyalty features. Transaction fees on third-party gateways are easy to miss until your first month's invoice. Premium themes run £200 to £400 for a quality one-off purchase, and there's no email hosting included, so you'll need a separate solution like Google Workspace.

On WooCommerce, developer time when things break typically costs £50 to £100 an hour for a reliable UK freelancer. Hosting needs upgrading as traffic grows, and there's the ongoing time cost of updating plugins, monitoring security, and managing backups.

The most common thing I see when auditing a new WooCommerce store is a founder who started on cheap shared hosting to keep costs down, then ended up with a slow site that was quietly killing their conversion rate. Moving to better hosting mid-trade is disruptive and costly.

FAQ

Is Shopify or WooCommerce better for a UK small business?

For most UK small businesses without a technical co-founder or ongoing developer support, Shopify is the better choice. It's faster to launch, easier to maintain, and the total cost of ownership is predictable. WooCommerce makes more sense if you already have WordPress expertise, need deep customisation, or want to keep long-term hosting costs low.

How much does Shopify cost per month in the UK?

Shopify's Basic plan is £25 a month on monthly billing, or £19 a month if you pay annually. The Grow plan is £65 a month. Factor in apps and transaction fees, and most UK small stores spend £50 to £120 a month in total on Shopify.

Can I switch from WooCommerce to Shopify without losing my products?

Yes. There are migration tools that transfer your products, customers, and order history from WooCommerce to Shopify. The process takes a few hours rather than days. The trickier part is redirecting your old URLs so you don't lose SEO rankings, which is worth doing carefully.

Is WooCommerce free for UK businesses?

The WooCommerce plugin itself is free, but running it isn't. You'll pay for hosting (from around £5 to £40 a month), any premium plugins you need, and occasional developer time when issues come up. A realistic budget for a small UK WooCommerce store is £30 to £80 a month.

Which platform is better for SEO in the UK?

Both platforms can perform well in UK search results. WooCommerce on WordPress has a slight edge for content-heavy sites with complex SEO needs. Shopify has improved significantly and is more than capable for most small stores. The quality of your content and your backlink profile matter far more than the platform.

The Bottom Line

For the majority of UK solo founders launching or growing a physical product store, Shopify is the right call. It's faster, lower-maintenance, and lets you focus on the business rather than the technology. If you're already in the WordPress world, have a developer on hand, or are building something that needs genuine customisation, WooCommerce earns its place.

If you're not sure which direction fits your situation, I'm happy to talk it through. You can reach out via the contact page at ecommerce-assist.co.uk and I'll give you a straight answer based on what you're actually building.

Information

Hire UK E-commerce VA

Brighton & Hove

GDPR

Subscribe to our newsletter

E-commerce Assist

Ecommerce Assist provides ecommerce virtual assistant support for UK founders, handling day-to-day eCommerce tasks and SEO so businesses move forward without the stress of doing everything alone.