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Service · Ecommerce

Ecommerce Web Design UK Built to Convert and Compound

Bespoke, custom-built ecommerce websites for UK brands. We'll also build on Shopify or WooCommerce when those platforms fit better, but the default is custom, sized to your catalogue, your team, and your fulfilment ops. Senior operators on every build. SEO and Merchant Centre wired up clean from launch. Free scoping call and a fixed-price quote within 48 hours. No hourly rates, no scope-creep invoices.

  • Manpower
  • Gozney
  • Traeger
  • WD-40
  • Shoe Box
  • Madison Heart of New York
  • Lala V
  • Floorspace
  • Lamy
  • Taunton Racecourse
  • MFC Studios

What we do

  • Custom-built around your business

    We build bespoke ecommerce sites around your catalogue, your team's workflow, and your margin structure. When Shopify or WooCommerce is genuinely the better fit for a given project, we'll say so and build there instead. Either way, the recommendation is based on what suits your business, not on what's easiest for us.

  • Conversion-led PDPs and checkout

    Product pages designed around the questions your customers actually ask before they buy. Reviews, FAQs, trust signals, urgency cues, placed deliberately, not pasted into a template. Checkout flow tuned for the path most customers actually take, not the one a designer assumed.

  • SEO and Merchant Centre from day one

    Schema, sitemaps, hreflang where needed, structured product data, GMC product feeds wired up clean from launch. The technical SEO foundations Google rewards over time, set up correctly before the first ad ever runs.

  • Performance as a build target

    Lighthouse 95+ on mobile is the baseline, not a stretch goal. Optimised images, lazy-loaded media, deferred third-party scripts, Core Web Vitals tuned before launch. Slow stores leak conversions; we don't ship slow stores.

  • Custom integrations done right

    Klaviyo, Loox, Gorgias, Recharge, ERP and CRM integrations wired up cleanly. Server-side tracking via the Conversions API as default, not an afterthought. We pick the apps that earn their seat in the stack and skip the rest.

  • Post-launch growth support

    Optional retainer for ongoing tweaks, content, and conversion programme. Most clients pair the build with our paid media or SEO retainers, the same team that built the store optimises it. No agency hopping between phases.

How an ecommerce build with us actually runs

Eight to twelve weeks from kick-off to launch, fixed-price, fixed-scope. Here's the rhythm.

  1. Free scoping call (week 0)

    30-minute call to map the catalogue, fulfilment, integrations, content sources, and growth plans. We tell you the right path, custom, Shopify, or WooCommerce, and why. Quote lands within 48 hours. Fixed-price, fixed-scope, fixed-timeline. No commitment.

  2. Design and content (weeks 1–4)

    Bespoke design on your brand, not a theme template. PDP, collection, cart, and checkout patterns mapped against the buyer journey we agreed in scoping. Content migration plan, redirect map, and SEO foundation laid in parallel.

  3. Build and integrations (weeks 4–9)

    Theme build, payment and shipping setup, third-party app integrations, server-side tracking, GMC product feeds, schema markup. Client review at the end of week 6 with a working dev store. Performance tuned to Lighthouse 95+ before launch.

  4. Launch and handover (weeks 10–12)

    DNS migration, 301 redirect deployment, GMC and analytics verification, post-launch monitoring for the first two weeks. Documentation, admin walkthrough, training session for your team. You own everything from day one, no migration fees if you ever leave.

Custom-built or platform-based, which fits your business?

The platform-choice question is where most ecommerce builds get the first decision wrong. Agencies pick what they're certified on, the buyer takes the recommendation at face value, and a year in the catalogue has grown past 500 SKUs, or the fulfilment workflow needs a custom hook, or the marketing team wants a content layer the platform wasn't designed for, and the rebuild starts inside year two.

We start the other way round. The default is custom, a bespoke ecommerce build sized to your catalogue, your fulfilment ops, your team's workflow, and your growth plan. When the requirements really do fit a platform, we'll tell you and build there: Shopify suits most direct-to-consumer brands under 5,000 SKUs with predictable order workflows, hosted infrastructure, and a fast time-to-launch. WooCommerce wins when the catalogue is content-heavy, when the team already runs WordPress, when you need multi-vendor or B2B price tiers, or when the integrations your business depends on are easier to wire up against an open codebase. We explain the recommendation on the scoping call so you can disagree if you want to. The recommendation is based on what fits your business, full stop.

The other thing that matters: most ecommerce sites lose more revenue to performance than they lose to design. A site that loads in four seconds on mobile is leaking 20% of its conversions before the visitor sees a product page, the data on this is unambiguous and has been for a decade. We treat Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse scores as build targets, not post-launch optimisation projects. Optimised images, lazy-loaded media, deferred third-party scripts, sensible app discipline. Lighthouse 95+ on mobile is the floor we ship at, not the ceiling we aim for.

Templates and page builders are the third trap. Every theme template is a compromise designed for a generic case, every page-builder block adds dependencies that compound into bloat, and every "we'll just install this app" decision shifts maintenance overhead onto the future you. We build bespoke. The code is yours, the patterns are yours, the documentation is yours. If you ever leave us, you take a clean asset with you, not a theme licence and a list of plugin dependencies.

If you've already got a store and you're rebuilding rather than starting from scratch, the migration question becomes the most important one. Done well, a replatform preserves your rankings and your revenue from day one. Done badly, a replatform tanks your traffic for months while Google reconciles the new structure. We map every existing URL to its new home, write the 301 redirects before launch, preserve the structured data, and re-validate the GMC feed before the cutover. The honest answer to "will my SEO survive a replatform" is "if it's done right, yes, and if it's done wrong, no, so make sure it's done right".

And the build is just the start of the work. The stores that compound revenue post-launch are the ones with a continuous conversion programme running underneath them. Most of our build clients pair the launch with our CRO programme or our Google Ads and Meta Ads retainers, the same team that built the store knows where the optimisation surface is and can move on it from day one. If you'd rather take the build and run growth in-house, that's fine too, the handover documentation is built for that case.

What clients say

  1. Peak Digital is "clicks on" for all our digital platforms, nothing is ever too much. It is such a relief to know our money is spent so carefully ensuring our online stores perform and even over-perform our monthly budgets. I am so grateful to have Peak Digital as our supplier in helping us navigate all our digital needs.
    Kelli Kupritz Marketing Director · Dodos Group
  2. We were completely stuck before Peak Digital was recommended to us. We got bad advice and recommendations, we were told what we wanted from a website wasn't possible and that we would have to get it built overseas. We paid hundreds of thousands for the wrong thing. Then Aidan came on board and made all the magic happen. He was so excited and passionate about our project, even researching our market and competitors, helping us clean up our design, and building us the most phenomenal website.
    Dana Booth Founder · Solo Saddlers
  3. I have worked with Peak Digital for the past 10 years and can honestly say our online business only really took off when Aidan launched our Madison Shopify site and took control of the ad spend. He is a pleasure to work with and gets the job done, we have reached great growth with Aidan. I would highly recommend Peak Digital to get your business online and gain market share very quickly.
    Shane McEvoy Operations Director · Madison Heart of New York
  4. Peak Digital has changed my life! My business has grown so much more than I expected in such a short space of time and working with Aidan is a dream! I would and have recommended him to everyone looking to take their business online.
    Debbie Goldstein Founder

Recent case studies

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Frequently asked questions

How much does an ecommerce website cost?

Every build starts with a free scoping call and a fixed-price quote, sized to the scope of the work. We quote within 48 hours of the call. No hourly rates, no scope-creep invoices, you know the budget before any code is written. Pricing depends on platform choice, catalogue size, integrations, content volume, and migration complexity. Most builds we ship sit between a brochure WordPress site and an enterprise replatform, neither end of the market is where we live.

How long does an ecommerce build take?

Eight to twelve weeks from scoping call to launch is typical. Smaller catalogues with no migration land closer to eight; larger catalogues with platform migration, custom integrations, or multilingual setup land closer to twelve. The timeline goes into the quote so you can plan launch campaigns against it. Scope changes mid-build are quoted as deltas, they don't blow up the timeline silently.

Custom build, Shopify, or WooCommerce, which is right for me?

It depends on your catalogue size, your team's tech literacy, your fulfilment ops, your margin tolerance, and how unique the workflow is. Custom builds win when the requirements don't fit a platform out of the box, bespoke fulfilment integrations, multi-tenant or marketplace setups, unusual product configurators, or anything where ongoing platform constraints would compound into a rebuild later. Shopify suits most direct-to-consumer stores under 5,000 SKUs that need hosted infrastructure and fast time-to-launch. WooCommerce wins when you need multi-vendor or B2B pricing, when integrations are easier against an open codebase, when the team already runs WordPress, or when content is as central as the catalogue. We tell you which one fits in the scoping call, with the reasoning, so you can disagree if you want to.

Will the site be SEO-friendly?

SEO foundations are built into the build, not bolted on afterwards. Schema markup, structured product data, sitemaps, hreflang where you operate cross-border, semantic HTML, sensible heading structure, fast Core Web Vitals, all standard. Google Merchant Centre product feeds are wired up clean before launch so paid shopping and free listings work from day one. If you want an active SEO programme post-launch, we run that as a separate retainer, see our SEO services.

Can you migrate my existing store from another platform?

Yes, most rebuilds we ship are migrations. We map every existing URL to its new home, write 301 redirects before launch, preserve product schema and structured data, re-validate the Merchant Centre feed, and run a post-launch crawl to catch anything missed. Done correctly, a migration preserves your traffic and rankings from day one. Done badly, you lose months of compounded SEO work, so the migration plan is one of the first things we lock in during scoping.

Do I own the site and the data?

Yes. Source code, design files, database, customer data, content, all yours from day one. No agency-owned theme licences, no proprietary frameworks you'd have to migrate off, no hostage situation if you ever leave us. Documentation is built for handover from the start, not as an afterthought when a relationship ends. The 30-day notice rule applies to retainers, not to your assets, those are always yours.

What about hosting?

Shopify is fully hosted on Shopify's infrastructure, they handle uptime, security, scaling, and SSL. There's no separate hosting bill beyond the Shopify subscription. For WooCommerce or custom builds we recommend SiteGround or a managed WordPress host appropriate to your traffic volume; we'll specify in the scoping call based on what we expect the launch traffic to look like. Either way, the recommendation is based on what fits your traffic and budget.

What about UK payments, shipping, and VAT?

We set up Stripe, GoCardless, PayPal, Klarna, Apple Pay, Google Pay, whatever payment mix fits your customers. Royal Mail, DPD, Parcelforce, Evri, FedEx, shipping configurations against your actual carriers and zones. UK VAT, EU VAT (post-Brexit one-stop-shop where relevant), digital VAT for downloadable products. International tax via TaxJar or Avalara when scope justifies it. The configuration goes into the build scope, not into a post-launch "oh, by the way" conversation.

Do you do ongoing maintenance after launch?

Optional retainer. For Shopify, ongoing maintenance is mostly app-stack hygiene, theme updates, Core Web Vitals monitoring, and tweaks, usually paired with a paid media or SEO retainer. For WooCommerce, the maintenance load is bigger because you're maintaining WordPress core, plugins, and security alongside the storefront, see our dedicated WordPress maintenance service for that. Most build clients keep the same team running paid, SEO, or maintenance post-launch, continuity beats agency-hopping.

Can you also handle the launch marketing campaign?

Yes, when it makes sense. The build team and the paid media team are the same people. We run Google Ads and Meta Ads on a monthly retainer, quoted to the account. CRO is included in either retainer. If you'd rather take the build and run growth in-house, that's fine, the handover documentation is built for that case too.

Related services

Web Design Custom WordPress sites built to convert and rank. Shopify Web Design Bespoke Shopify stores tuned to convert. SEO Long-term SEO retainers, technical, content, local.

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