May 30 2007

IMRG / Hitwise Hot Shops List

Amazon continues to lead the UK online market but Tesco.com, which has been making steady progress up the rankings of UK transactional sites, has moved into second place in the latest IMRG / Hitwise Hot Shops List.

The IMRG / Hitwise Hot Shops List has been tracking the number of visitors to UK e-retailing sites since May 2006 and the latest quarterly ranking shows that many of the top players are performing well: maintaining customer loyalty; acquiring their share of the growing customer base; dealing successfully with churn.

James Roper, CEO of IMRG commented: "We had no idea that the top online retail rankings had consolidated to such a degree. The Hot Shops List shows very clearly that the leading e-retailers are doing a great job in attracting and satisfying their share of customers in this fast growing, highly competitive marketplace.

"Having secured their positions so effectively, they are in great shape to continue to take the lion's share of the online shopping trade, which we estimate will be worth some £42 billion this year. But this industry is always full of surprises, so it will be fascinating to see how consumers vote with their traffic for the top retailers during the year ahead, especially as the international market opens up."

Six companies rank in exactly the same position as they did a year ago, while 13 are within one place of last year's position, 20 are within three places and 33 are within seven places. Four companies have dropped off the list: O2, XL.com, Debenhams and Opodo.

New additions to the list since May 2006 are Symantec Store (31), Ebuyer (41), Odeon Cinemas (42), Maplin Electronics (44) Apple iTunes (46), Boots (48) and TopShop (50).

Only half of the retailers on the List are high street names, and this number has only risen by two since May 2006, from 23 to 25, indicating that many traditional retailers are still letting the online opportunity slip by them.

Amazon's dominance of the Hot Shops List has remained unchallenged. Although Tesco.com has continued to rise up the list (from third in February, fourth in November and fifth in August 2006), it still has a long way to go if is to become the UK's leading online retailer: Amazon UK receives 0.6% of all UK visits to internet sites against Tesco.com's 0.15% share.

The fastest risers, since the last list was published in February 2007, are B&Q, up 12 places, from 35 to 23, and Tesco Direct and Ticketmanster UK, both up nine places, from 25 to 16 and 28 to 19 respectively.

Heather Hopkins, VP of Research at Hitwise commented: "Tesco and several high street department stores have made significant gains in the past year with Tesco, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis and Woolworths all climbing in the ranks. With Tesco reporting record first quarter earnings earlier this month it is no surprise to see that the retailer has climbed to second place, up from fourth one year ago.

"Share of UK internet visits to Tesco.com are up 15% in the past year. Marks and Spencer, which this week announced a 26% jump in full fiscal year profits, has seen its market share of UK internet visits increase 36% and its ranking jump to 12th up from 23rd a year ago. The retailer's growth online has been largely driven by offline promotions and increased brand searches, with a more than doubling of internet searches for 'marks and spencer' year on year in April."

1. Amazon UK 2. Tesco.com 3. Argos 4. Play.com 5. Amazon.com 6. Expedia.co.uk 7. Apple Computer 8. easyJet 9. RyanAir.com 10. British Airways 11. Thomson Holidays 12. Marks & Spencer 13. Dell EMEA 14. Next 15. lastminute.com 16. Tesco Direct 17. John Lewis 18. HMV.co.uk 19. Ticketmaster UK 20. First Choice 21. TalkTalk 22. Currys 23. B&Q 24. QVCUK.com 25. Thomas Cook 26. Comet UK 27. MyTravel UK 28. Thomsonfly.com 29. PC World 30. Travelodge UK 31. Symantec Store 32. Woolworths UK 33. bmibaby 34. Packard Bell UK 35. The Orange Shop 36. ASOS 37. Flybe.com 38. Littlewoods 39. Jet2 40. HP 41. Ebuyer 42. Odeon Cinemas 43. ASDA 44. Maplin Electronics 45. Screwfix Direct 46. Apple iTunes 47. InterContinental Hotels Group 48. Boots 49. Seetickets 50. TopShop