August 31 2007

IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List

Argos and Tesco are among the few movers in the ranks of e-commerce companies listed in the latest IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List. The two companies have swapped between 2nd and 3rd places in the quarterly listing, behind Amazon's usual position as the most popular site for UK visitors.

Just over half of the e-retailers listed are within three places of their rankings in May, and of these, 16 are within one place - seven hold exactly the same position.

Some 18 travel companies are included in the list, including two newcomers: TravelRepublic.co.uk at 40 and National Express at 48.

Beneficiaries of July's weather, and the list's highest risers, were two cinema chains - Odeon Cinemas (up 14 places to 28), and new entrant Vue Entertainment (in at 36).

Amazon UK Argos Tesco.com Play.com Thomson Holidays Expedia.co.uk easyJet Apple Computer Amazon.com lastminute.com Next RyanAir British Airways Dell EMEA Marks & Spencer Tesco Direct Currys John Lewis First Choice Thomas Cook MyTravel UK HMV.co.uk PC World Thomsonfly.com Ticketmaster UK QVCUK.com Comet UK Odeon Cinemas Travelodge UK Littlewoods B&Q Jet2 bmibaby Flybe.com The Orange Shop Vue Entertainment ASDA Ebuyer Apple iTunes TravelRepublic.co.uk Woolworths UK Screwfix Direct HP Packard Bell UK Boots ASOS InterContinental Hotels Group National Express IKEA Monarch Airlines

IMRG's CEO, James Roper, comments: "Against a backdrop of huge growth in online sales, up 80% on last year to £4+ billion in July, the stability of retailers' positions on the list is extraordinary, and tells me two things: these market leaders are satisfying their customers pretty well, and competitors are having little or no effect on their progress. The really odd thing is that nothing about e-retailing is static - the customer base, expectations, propositions, technology - its all evolving rapidly all the time. Beneath this apparently serene and stable market is frantic activity keeping it so."

Hitwise's Director of Research, Robin Goad, comments: "The growth of travel sites is primarily a seasonal adjustment, but a 50% year on year increase in traffic helped TravelRepublic.co.uk enter the top 50 for the first time. There has been a shift in the electrical sector, with the multi-brand stores gaining at the expense of the pure play brands. DSGi's online properties have been particularly successful, with Currys traffic up 23% compared to last year, and PC World up 33%."

Emma Herrod