Top 100 online retailers in the UK: How do they compare to four years ago?

At number 1, Amazon's dominance of the Hot Shops List has remained unchallenged every quarter since the List was first published in May 2006.  Argos has retained second place this time following it's move back to that spot last year.                                                                                
                                                                               
Argos (2/originally 3) retained the second spot that it gained last year and Play.com (3/5) has remained in third position since May 2008.  Apple Computer (4/10), moved up to 4th place from 17th position in May last year, on the back of the much anticipated launch of the iPad.                                                                                                                                                   
Seven of the original top 10 retained membership of that elite group: Amazon UK (1/1), Argos (2/3), Play.com (3/5), Apple Computer (4/10), Tesco.com (5/4), Amazon.com (6/6) and easyJet (10/8).                                                                                
Six of the top ten retailers have physical stores, up from four in May 2009.  Thirty three of the fifty Hot Shops have a high street presence, up from twenty-three in 2006.                                                                                
Leading the fastest climbers are ASOS (15/50) and HP (24/47). In addition we have ASDA moving to 28 from 49 and Screwfix at 27 up from 46 in May 2006.              

                                                                 
Electrical and travel are the sectors most strongly represented on the List.  The top 3 electrical retailers include Apple Computer (4/10), HP (24/47) and Currys (26/27) with the previous trend of pure play online retailers entering the list and established retailers losing ground halted.

The top 3 Travel companies are easyJet (10/8), Ryanair (12/9) and Thomson Holidays (14/13). Apart from The Trainline (31/New) which is new - all other companies in the Travel sector have lost ground in the listings since May 2006.                                                                                
                                                                               
Clothing is one of the fastest growing online shopping sectors, with nine specialist retailers on the List including Marks & Spencer (7/23), Next (8/14) and ASOS (15/50).      

                                                                          
Grocery sales that were very strong last year have lost ground.  Tesco.com (5/4) continues to lead in this sector retaining 5th position from last year, with ASDA (28/49) falling 5 places from May 2009 and Sainsbury's (39/NEW) falling 19 places since last May.                                                                                 
                                                                          
The eighteen newcomers to the List since May 2006 are Tesco Direct (9), New Look (17), LOVEFiLM (18), Topshop (20), River Island (21), Homebase (25), The Trainline (31), Very.co.uk (33), Cineworld Cinemas (34), ASDA Direct (35), Odeon Cinemas (37), Sainsbury's (39), Vue Entertainment (41), GAME (43), Boots (44), Halfords (47), IKEA (49) and Sportsdirect.com (50).          

                                                                  
Brands that appeared on the original Top 50 List but have since dropped out of the top 100 are MyTravel (17), Opodo (48), Packard Bell UK (38), XL.com (33), Tesco Electrical (34),  Thomsonfly (21) and Woolworths (41). A number of others, whilst out of the Top 50 are still placed within the Top 100.
                                                                               
IMRG's CEO, James Roper, comments: "With multichannel retailers now accounting for two-thirds of the top 50 merchants, it is clear that those with both physical stores and an online presence are leading the growth in e-retail. This is also evidenced in the IMRG Capgemini E-retail Sales Index, where multichannel retailers are consistently outperforming their pureplay counterparts in terms of sales growth. Not surprisingly, fashion retailers continue to move up the Hot Shops List as clothing remains one of the fastest growing online sectors."
                               
Hitwise's Director of Research, Robin Goad, comments: “With Summer just round the corner, DIY retailers are experiencing a season spike in traffic, with B&Q, Homebase and Screwfix all moving up the rankings. All three have also improved their position compared to last year, something that was expected given that House and Garden is currently the fastest growing online retail sector. The release of both the iPad and the latest iPhone have helped Apple move up the rankings, while department stores such as John Lewis, Debenhams and Tesco Direct continue to gain market share at the expense of their smaller, specialist retail rivals. And finally there a signs of the positive impact of the World Cup, with new Sportsdirect.com at number 50.”      

You can see the full top 100 here.   

                                 
                                                                                 
www.imrg.org                                                                                
                                                               
www.hitwise.com/uk                
                                                               

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