E-commerce marketing guide
A small online shop can't outspend the big retailers, and doesn't need to. It needs the right channels in the right order, an email list it owns, and to know exactly what it can afford to pay for each new customer.
→The short answer
Good marketing for e-commerce starts with what you own: an email list and product pages that convert. Add Google's free product listings, social content that shows products in use, then paid ads once you know what each order really earns. Keep every customer you win, because a repeat order costs far less than a first one.
(01)The market
A big, crowded and very competitive place to sell.
Online retail in the UK
Over 25%
of all retail sales in Great Britain were made online in recent months, in ONS figures
Source: Office for National Statistics
That's a huge market, shared with the biggest retailers and marketplaces in the world. Small brands win where the big ones can't follow: a clear niche, a story people care about, products photographed and described properly, and service that feels personal.
(02)A channel plan
In the order we'd add them.
A channel plan for a small online shop
| Channel | What it's for | What it costs | When to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email list | Turning visitors and first-time buyers into repeat customers | An email service | Day one |
| Google's free product listings | Showing your products across Google, including the Shopping tab, Images and YouTube2 | Free, with a product feed | As soon as your product data is tidy |
| Organic social media | Showing products in use and the people behind the brand | Your time, or a monthly fee | Day one, at a pace you can keep |
| Search for category pages | Being found by people searching for what you sell | Time or an SEO service | Once your category pages are written |
| Facebook and Instagram ads | Reaching people who'd love the product but aren't searching for it | Ad spend, plus management if you hand it over | Once your product pages convert visitors |
| Google Shopping ads | Appearing at the top when people search for the product | Ad spend, plus management | Once you know your margin per order |
| Collaborations and influencers | Borrowing someone else's audience | Product, fees or both | When you have stock and a story; always labelled as ads |
Product data and free listings are covered in e-commerce SEO. If you give someone free products or pay them to post, their posts must make the relationship clear, and posts you've asked for or have a say in are ads that must be labelled as such3.
(03)Email
The one channel no platform can take away.
Email marketing for online shops, within the rules
A welcome series
Three or four emails after someone signs up: the story, the bestsellers, how to choose, and a reason to buy now that's true.
After the order
Delivery updates, how to use or care for the product, and later, a request for an honest review.
Basket reminders
Useful, and still marketing. The soft opt-in only covers people whose details you got during a sale or negotiations for a sale, who were offered a clear chance to refuse4. Otherwise, you need their consent first.
Win-back
A note to customers who haven't ordered in a while, with what's new. Stop when they stop opening.
The soft opt-in, properly
It lets you email your own customers about similar products, as long as they were offered the chance to refuse when they bought and in every email since4. A pre-ticked box doesn't count as consent.
(05)The numbers
What you can afford to spend to win a customer.
The numbers every online shop should know
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| The customer pays | £40.00 |
| The product itself (example figure) | − £14.00 |
| Packaging and postage (example figure) | − £4.00 |
| Card fee, at Stripe's standard UK rate6 | − £0.80 |
| Left to pay for marketing, running costs and profit | £21.20 |
Use your own figures. If a first order leaves this much, spending more than that on ads to win it only pays if the customer orders again.
Conversion rate
Out of every hundred visitors, how many buy. Improving product pages often does more than buying more traffic.
Average order value
What a typical order is worth. Bundles and free delivery thresholds can lift it.
Cost to win a customer
Ad spend divided by new customers. Compare it to what an order leaves you, above.
Repeat customers
How many come back within a year. This is the number that makes paid ads affordable.
(06)Checklist
Tick off what you already do.
A 10-point e-commerce marketing checklist
(07)More for online shops
More for online shops
Questions
(08)Questions
Start with what you own: an email list from day one, product pages with photos in use, and Google's free product listings. Add paid ads only once you know what each order leaves you.
Pieces worn by real people, one item styled several ways, fit notes with the model's height and size, fabric close-ups, behind-the-scenes packing, and drops announced with the real number made.
It counts as marketing, so you need their consent, or the soft opt-in where they gave their details while buying or negotiating to buy and were offered a clear chance to refuse.
Sources
(09)Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Checked on the date shown.
- 1Internet sales as a percentage of total retail sales (J4MC), Office for National Statistics. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 2Free listings for products, Google Merchant Center Help. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 3Influencers' guide to making clear that ads are ads, Advertising Standards Authority, CAP and CMA. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 4How do we comply with the PECR electronic mail marketing rules?, Information Commissioner's Office. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 5Unfair commercial practices (CMA207), Competition and Markets Authority. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 6Pricing and fees (UK), Stripe. Checked 26 October 2026.
(10)Start a project
Let's build your
free preview.
Tell us about your business. We'll come back with a plan and start on your preview. You pay nothing until you give it the nod.
(04)Social media for e-commerce
For shops in general, and clothing brands in particular.
Social media ideas for online shops and clothing brands
The product in use
Behind the brand
For clothing brands
Customers, with permission