UK business loans for retail

UK retail business loans (bricks-and-mortar shops, e-commerce, hybrid) are dominated by merchant cash advance against daily card flow for established retailers. Capify and 365 Business Finance lead on bricks-and-mortar MCA; YouLend and Liberis cover embedded MCA inside Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Worldpay and Sage. Stock and inventory finance fills seasonal Q4 build-up gaps; asset finance funds fit-out cycles; Allica Bank handles commercial mortgages for shop owner-occupiers. Typical tickets £10k to £250k. Marketplace concentration (Amazon-only) underwritten as fragile.

Cash-flow shape

Strong daily card flow. Seasonal Q4 peak. Stock cycle ahead of revenue.

Products that fit

  • Merchant cash advance against gateway flow
  • Stock and inventory finance
  • Term loans for marketing investment
  • Asset finance for fit-out

Top UK lenders for retail

  • Capify
  • 365 Business Finance
  • YouLend
  • Liberis

Typical tickets

£10k to £250k

Watch outs

  • Marketplace concentration (Amazon-only) seen as fragile.
  • Single-product or single-supplier brands harder to underwrite.
  • Gross margin opacity in DTC.

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Last reviewed: 2026-04-26.

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Trusted comparison data sourced from

UK FinanceABFABusiness MoneyFundInvoiceBCR PublishingThe Gazette
85 providers compared Updated April 2026 Independent editorial