Tools and providers
Part of Ecommerce web design: questions before hiring
Ecommerce web design: questions before hiring
Use these ecommerce web design agency questions to check platform fit, payments, privacy, accessibility, quotes and exit terms before hiring.
What to take away
- Judge an ecommerce brief on checkout completion, refunds and stock behaviour, not on how the homepage looks.
- Ask which UK payment gateways an agency has integrated, and who owns the merchant account.
- Cookie consent, accessibility testing and data retention need named owners in the contract.
- A Shopify specialist and a generalist agency are different purchases with different retainers.
- Agree the exit route for product data and content before you sign anything.
Ecommerce work is a different purchase
A brochure site persuades a visitor to make contact. An online store takes payment, holds stock, issues refunds and answers delivery queries.
The risk moves with that difference. A failed payment, a vague size guide or a slow refund all cost sales. Ask any agency to walk you through how those flows are designed and tested.
The Office for National Statistics publishes UK retail sales data tracking how much spending runs through online channels (retail industry data). If a large share of your revenue sits in that channel, the checkout is a business system rather than a page.
Questions to put to any agency
Work through this sequence in writing. Vague answers are the signal.
- Which platform will you build on—Shopify, WooCommerce or a custom-built platform—and what are its limitations for my store?
- Which payment providers or methods, such as Stripe, Worldpay, Opayo, Adyen, PayPal or Klarna, have you integrated? Who owns the merchant account, and how will the checkout meet PCI DSS requirements?
- How will the store connect to accounting and stock systems such as Xero, Sage or Linnworks, and how will you test those integrations?
- Who is responsible for cookie consent, data retention and testing against WCAG 2.2 and EN 301 549?
- What is included in the staged build and support quotation, and what could trigger extra charges?
- How will I export product data, order history, content and design files if I leave?
Questions to put to any agency
- Which payment service providers have you integrated?
- Who holds the merchant account?
- Which platform will carry the store?
- How do refunds and delivery estimates appear?
- What is your accessibility testing method?
- What happens to product data if we leave?
Platform choice narrows the agency pool
Most UK stores run on one of three foundations: Shopify, WooCommerce or a custom-built platform. Each changes who you can hire and what you will pay to leave.
For a shortlist, research ecommerce agencies such as We Make Websites, Swanky, Space 48, Eastside Co, Vervaunt and Statement. These are examples to investigate, not endorsements; check that each agency's work matches your platform and catalogue, then ask each the same questions below.
Platform choice narrows the agency pool
Shopify
- Reasonable fit
- Fast launch, hosted checkout
- Question to press
- Which apps add recurring cost?
WooCommerce
- Reasonable fit
- Content-led WordPress stores
- Question to press
- Who patches plugins and backups?
Custom or headless
- Reasonable fit
- Unusual catalogues or logic
- Question to press
- What does the support retainer cover?
Whichever foundation you choose, the store still has to work for keyboard and screen reader users. Our web design agency accessibility checklist lists tests worth naming in the contract. Ask the agency to demonstrate keyboard-only navigation, visible focus, meaningful image text alternatives, labelled forms and useful error messages, sufficient colour contrast, zoom and reflow, and screen-reader operation. You can also ask how it uses WebAIM WAVE, Deque axe DevTools and NVDA alongside manual testing; automated tools alone do not establish that a site is accessible.
Payments, tax and the UK checkout
The agency should never own your merchant relationship. Settlement, chargebacks and payout timing belong in your company's name, whatever the platform. Ask who is responsible for each part of PCI DSS compliance in the checkout.
Prices shown to UK consumers normally include VAT. The basket should also state delivery charges before the customer commits, not at the final step.
Ask how the store handles failed payments and abandoned baskets. A retry email is a design decision with a data question attached.
Data, cookies and consumer law
An online store collects more personal data than a brochure site. Orders, accounts, reviews and analytics each need a lawful basis and a retention rule. The UK data protection framework includes UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Cookie consent is governed by PECR—the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003—alongside UK GDPR where personal data is involved. The ICO's guidance on cookies and similar technologies explains the consent approach in practice.
Accessibility sits alongside privacy as a legal duty. The Equality Act 2010 applies to online services in Great Britain. The Equality and Human Rights Commission's services Code of Practice offers guidance to service providers. Ask the agency to explain its testing against WCAG 2.2 and EN 301 549.
Consumers who buy online also have a 14-day cancellation right under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Build the returns flow around it.
Cost, retainers and the exit
Ecommerce builds cost more than brochure sites. Integrations, payment testing, data migration and returns logic take time that a five-page site never needs.
Ask for a staged quotation: discovery, build, migration and launch as separate lines. Ask for support and any retainer to be priced separately too, with scope, assumptions, included hours or services, and additional-charge conditions set out in writing. Compare like-for-like quotations rather than relying on an unscoped headline fee.
Write the exit into the contract. Product data and order history should be exportable in a documented format such as CSV for tabular records. Agree how content, media and design files will be handed over, and any export or migration charge.
Common questions
What does an ecommerce web design agency in the UK charge?
There is no single UK fee: the price depends on catalogue size, integrations and platform. Ask for a scoped, staged quotation that separates discovery, build, migration and launch, and lists support or retainer terms, third-party costs and possible extra charges. Compare quotations on the same scope before choosing.
Do I need a Shopify specialist or will any agency do?
A specialist is usually faster on Shopify checkout and app rules. A generalist can suit a small catalogue or a store built on an existing WordPress site.
Who owns the customer data in an online store?
You do, as the data controller. The agency and the platform process it on your instructions, which the contract should state plainly.
How long does an ecommerce build take?
Small catalogues can launch in weeks, while migrations take months. Ask for a staged schedule with the dependencies written next to each date.
