I had coffee with Marcus last week. He’s been buying property in London for the past fifteen years, classic buy-to-let investor, owns seven flats across Zones 2 and 3. He is a smart guy and he built his portfolio from nothing.
But when I asked him how things were going, he just shook his head.
“Mate, it’s not what it used to be,” he said. “The tax changes, the new EPC requirements, the compliance paperwork… I’m spending more time managing regulations than I am looking at new deals. And don’t even get me started on the financing costs.”
Marcus isn’t alone. Traditional buy-to-let investors across the UK are feeling the squeeze from changed tax frameworks, increased regulations, and a tougher compliance environment. The market is facing elevated borrowing costs and political uncertainties, making what was once a straightforward investment now feel like navigating a minefield.
Meanwhile, there’s a trillion-pound opportunity most investors like Marcus are completely sleeping on. And no, it’s not crypto, NFTs, or the latest tech fad.
It’s ecommerce business.
What’s Actually Happening in UK Property Scene
Let’s be honest about the elephant in the room. If you’re investing in UK property right now, you’re dealing with what Marcus calls “death by a thousand cuts.”
The Regulatory Nightmare
Stricter EPC requirements and tax changes are forcing landlords to rethink their strategies. What used to be passive income now requires constant compliance monitoring and upgrades that eat into your returns.
The Capital Lock-Up Problem
You need hundreds of thousands upfront. Then you wait. And wait. Property values in London and the South East have shown slower growth, while high property prices and mortgage costs still make homeownership difficult for many. Your money is essentially frozen, sometimes for years, before you see meaningful appreciation.
The Interest Rate Squeeze
Although expectations are for gradual reductions, borrowing costs will stay elevated compared to pre-pandemic norms. This means your financing costs are eating a bigger chunk of your returns than they did five years ago.
Limited Control Over Value
You can’t force a neighborhood to gentrify faster. You can’t make the economy boom. You can’t control when interest rates drop. You’re at the mercy of macroeconomic forces you have zero influence over.
Marcus put it perfectly: “I bought a flat in 2019 thinking the area would boom. Five years later, I’m still waiting. I can renovate the kitchen, sure. But I can’t make the Tube station appear faster or convince more families to move in.”
Why Smart Investors Are Looking at Ecommerce Differently
Global retail e-commerce sales in 2024 totaled $6.01 trillion, up 7.65% year-over-year. That’s not a typo. Six trillion with a “T.”
But it’s not just about the market size. It’s about what you can actually do with an ecommerce business once you own it.
You’re Buying Cash Flow, Not Just Assets
Unlike property, where your returns are largely tied to appreciation and rent increases, ecommerce businesses generate immediate, active cash flow. We’re talking about businesses valued at a median EBITDA multiple of 10x by H1 2024, with smaller businesses typically trading at multiples averaging 3.49x seller’s discretionary earnings.
Let’s put that in perspective: Buy a business for £300,000 that’s generating £100,000 in annual owner earnings (a 3x multiple), and you’re looking at a 33% annual return before any improvements. Try getting that from a buy-to-let in Manchester.
When I walked Marcus through these numbers, he literally stopped mid-sip of his coffee. “Wait, say that again?”
Control Is Relaxing
This is where ecommerce absolutely demolishes traditional real estate, you control almost everything.
With property, you’re stuck with the location, the neighborhood demographics, and hoping the local economy improves. With an ecommerce brand, you can:
- Optimize the website and increase conversion rates by 20% in a month
- Launch new products to expand your average order value
- Test new marketing channels and scale what works
- Expand into international markets literally overnight
- Improve supplier relationships to boost margins
- Build email and SMS lists that become owned marketing assets
Every single one of these actions directly impacts your bottom line. And you can implement them tomorrow if you want.
I told Marcus, “Imagine if you could redesign the Tube map to run through your property, or personally convince 500 new families to move into your neighborhood next month. That’s essentially what you can do with ecommerce.”
He laughed, but then he got quiet. Because he knew I was right.
The Numbers Tell a Compelling Story
U.S. retail e-commerce sales are projected to reach $1.47 trillion by 2025, which is a 9.78% increase from 2024. The market isn’t slowing down, it’s accelerating.
But the really interesting part is 57% of worldwide e-commerce sales come from mobile devices, with projections indicating the mobile e-commerce share will reach 63% in 2028. The infrastructure for continued growth is already in place. Consumers have already changed their behavior. The shift is permanent.
Compare this to property, buyer inquiries and home sales experienced declines in February 2025, marking the weakest buyer demand since November 2023. The trend lines are moving in opposite directions.
The Diversification Angle Nobody Talks About
Most high-earning executives and successful business owners people like Marcus have their wealth concentrated in two places: their primary business and property. That’s it.
Think about that for a second. You’ve built wealth by being smart, taking calculated risks, and probably controlling outcomes in your career. Why would you then put all your investment capital into assets where you have virtually no control?
Ecommerce businesses offer true diversification:
- Different economic drivers: While property depends on local employment and lending rates, ecommerce growth is driven by consumer behavior shifts, digital adoption, and logistics improvements
- Global exposure: You can own a UK-based business that sells to customers worldwide
- Multiple exit strategies: Unlike property where you essentially have one exit (sell to another buyer), ecommerce businesses can be sold to strategic acquirers, rolled up into larger portfolios, or even taken public through aggregation
The Counterintuitive Truth About Risk
“But isn’t ecommerce riskier than property?”
That’s exactly what Marcus asked me. And it’s what everyone asks. Here’s the thing: perceived risk and actual risk are very different.
Yes, ecommerce businesses require active management or a team to run them. But so does property, you’ve just normalized the management hassle. Try telling a landlord dealing with problem tenants, emergency repairs, and void periods that property is “passive.”
The actual risk in ecommerce comes down to one thing: buying the right business. And that’s where proper due diligence becomes your superpower.
Sector M&A EBITDA multiples have ticked higher, averaging 10.4x between 2024 and year-to-date compared to 10.1x in the 2022-2023 period. Because sophisticated buyers private equity firms, strategic acquirers, holding companies are getting more comfortable with the asset class. They’ve figured out how to assess risk properly.
The businesses getting healthy valuations share common traits:
- Diversified traffic sources (not dependent on one platform)
- Strong unit economics and customer lifetime value
- Defensible brand positioning
- Clean financial records and operational systems
- Multiple supplier relationships
These aren’t secrets. They’re checklist items. And they’re entirely assessable during due diligence.
What This Means for You
If you’re sitting on capital right now, whether you’re like Marcus with property equity to deploy, or you’re simply looking for better returns you have options:
Option A: Put another £200,000 into a buy-to-let, lock it up for 5-7 years, hope the area appreciates, deal with regulations you don’t control, and maybe just maybe see a 6-8% annual return if everything goes well.
Option B: Acquire a vetted ecommerce business generating £75,000-£100,000 annually, implement proven growth strategies, actively manage or hire operators to scale it, and target 20-30%+ annual returns while building a valuable asset you can sell at a premium in 3-5 years.
The math isn’t even close.
The Entry Barrier That’s Actually an Opportunity
Most investors don’t know how to evaluate ecommerce businesses. They don’t know what metrics matter, what red flags to look for, or how to assess the actual risk.
That lack of knowledge creates a barrier to entry. And barriers to entry create opportunity for those willing to learn or partner with those who already know.
Think about when you first looked at investment property. You probably didn’t know what a good yield looked like, how to calculate rental demand, or what made a location attractive. You learned. Or you worked with people who knew.
Ecommerce is no different. The fundamentals are learnable, The due diligence is systematic and the opportunity is massive.
This Is Just the Beginning
Projections indicate that total worldwide B2B and B2C e-commerce will be worth over $50 trillion in 2030. We’re not at the peak. We’re not even in the middle. We’re in the early innings of a fundamental shift in how commerce works globally.
The investors who recognize this now, who see ecommerce businesses as legitimate investment vehicles rather than “risky online ventures” are positioning themselves to capitalize on one of the largest wealth creation opportunities of the next decade.
Real estate isn’t dead. But it’s no longer the default answer to “where should I invest?”
The digital age demands digital assets. And right now, ecommerce businesses offer something traditional investments can’t match: growth, control, and returns that actually make sense in today’s economic environment.
Ready to Explore E-commerce Investment?
At TrendHijacking, we specialize in identifying, acquiring, scaling, and exiting ecommerce brands for investors who want exposure to this asset class without the learning curve or operational burden.
We handle everything:
- Comprehensive due diligence on potential acquisitions
- Negotiation and purchase of vetted businesses
- Full operational management and scaling strategies
- Exit planning and execution when you’re ready
We currently have pre-vetted, due diligence-complete e-commerce businesses available for sale. These aren’t “opportunities”, they’re operating, profitable businesses ready for the right partner.
