Top 50 online retailers in the UK

The big news from the November Hot Shops List is the major retail brands appearing on it for the first time ever -  GAME (23), River Island (42) M and M Direct (44), Sainsbury's (45) and Dixons (46) all debut this time round.  

So now twenty-seven of the Hot 50 are high street retailers, though online-only Dixons is no longer counted as one of them, but still only five make the top ten.

The IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List:

1. Amazon UK
2. Play.com
3. Argos
4. Tesco.com
5. Apple Computer
6. Dell EMEA
7. Amazon.com
8. Marks & Spencer
9. Tesco Direct
10. Next
11. HMV.co.uk
12. Expedia.co.uk
13. Thomson Holidays
14. lastminute.com
15. Currys
16. Ticketmaster UK
17. John Lewis
18. RyanAir
19. easyJet
20. British Airways
21. Comet UK
22. Woolworths UK
23. GAME
24. PC World
25. Boots
26. O2 Shop
27. Symantec Store
28. Debenhams
29. ASOS
30. Ebuyer
31. Toys 'R' Us - UK
32. B&Q
33. The Orange Shop
34. Littlewoods
35. QVCUK.com
36. ASDA
37. Carphone Warehouse
38. Topshop
39. Odeon Cinemas
40. Screwfix Direct
41. HP
42. River Island
43. IKEA
44. M and M Direct
45. Sainsbury's
46. Dixons
47. Apple iTunes
48. Thomas Cook
49. bmibaby
50. Thomsonfly

The IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List of the top 50 UK e-retailers is the key indicator of online merchant performance.  The List is published quarterly and tracks popularity, as indicated by visits, of those selling goods and services within the IMRG Index Classification.  This List is based on October 2007 data.

The big news from the November Hot Shops List is the major retail brands appearing on it for the first time ever -  GAME (23), River Island (42) M and M Direct (44), Sainsbury's (45) and Dixons (46) all debut this time round.  So now twenty-seven of the Hot 50 are high street retailers, though online-only Dixons is no longer counted as one of them, but still only five make the top ten.

Amazon.co.uk occupied the top spot as usual, as it has in all of the previous six quarterly editions of the List.  However, for everyone else it was "all change", as no other company retained its August ranking.

Play pushed aside Argos (3) and Tesco.com (4) to regain the number 2 spot that it enjoyed at this time last year, up from 4 in August, May and February.

Apple Computer, at 5, listed higher than ever before, while Dell jumped eight places from 14 last time into the 6 spot.  Making the top ten for the first time were Marks & Spencer (8), Tesco Direct (9) and Next (10).

Other high climbers were HMV (11) which leapt eleven places from last time to its all time high, Boots (25), up twenty places, Debenhams (28) which had not appeared on the List since February, and ASOS (29) up seventeen places.

Neither O2 (26) or Toys 'R' Us (31) had appeared on the List since this time a year ago (then 37 and 40, respectively).  The four other retailers reappearing on the List this time are Symantec (27), Debenhams (28), The Carphone Warehouse (37) and Topshop (38), whose only previous showing was at 50, in May.

All nine travel companies in the List ranked lower than in August, appearing in trios:  leading the field were agents Expedia.co.uk, Thomson Holidays, lastminute.com, ranking 12, 13, 14;  then came airlines RyanAir, easyJet, British Airways, coming in at 18, 19, 20; while to the deep south were Thomas Cook, bmibaby, Thomsonfly at 48, 49, 50.

IMRG's CEO, James Roper, commented: "It's terrific news for online shoppers that more great British retailers now have internet offers which are attracting the high volume of traffic needed to appear on the IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List.  There has been fantastic improvement in the overall quality of online shopping services available in the UK this year, and competition for consumers' e-spend is fierce.  So e-retailers really do have to be pretty special to get on the Hot List."

Hitwise's Director of Research, Robin Goad, commented: "In the run up to Christmas, entertainment and electrical retailers have made the biggest gains. Play.com has moved above Argos and Tesco to take the number two position, while HMV, Amazon.com and Curry’s have all gained within the top 20, and GAME has appeared on the list for the first time. The anticipation surrounding the launch of Apple’s iPhone helped boost the three retailers involved: Apple itself has moved into the top 5 for the first time, while 02 and Carphone Warehouse have both re-entered the top 50. Fashion retailers have also done well this quarter, with Marks and Spencer and Next entering the top 10 for the first time and Asos.com moving up 17 places since the last quarter."