Data: Top 50 UK retailers’ online performance

As ecommerce continues to grow at a rapid pace in the UK, a retailer’s online experience can ultimately win or lose shoppers in their droves.

Etail sales surged 13.9% year-on-year in January, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini data, as shopping continued to migrate to digital channels.

But which businesses are setting the standard online?

Ecommerce specialist Summit has mystery shopped Britain’s top 50 retailers – based on Retail Week’s ranking of overall sales revenue – assessing them on four crucial factors that combine to either drive or damage profitability and growth.

Ease of buying

Top five

Bottom five

Ecommerce should make it “easy for retailers to trade” and “a pleasure for customers to shop”, Summit suggests.

But when it came to criteria such as site navigation, mobile friendliness and the checkout process, not all retailers lived up to that billing.

Value operator Home Bargains came out on top for its ease of shopping, with its speedy load times across desktop (1.7 seconds) and mobile (1.9 seconds) outshining its online rivals.

Research suggests that every extra second over a three-second load time benchmark reduces conversion rates by 7%.

“Retailers should ensure they regularly test loading times, particularly of their homepages, across desktop and mobile”

Conversion rates have traditionally been lower on mobile than on desktop, but mobile “plays an integral role in the customer journey, and therefore should not be overlooked”, Summit says.

Retailers should ensure they regularly test loading times, particularly of their homepages, across desktop and mobile.

Enabling caching of static content will also aid site performance – yet just 6% of retailers have a correctly configured cache validator, while 75% do not have a cache validator set at all.

Addressing that issue will not only allow retailers to make their websites faster, but ensure they are better equipped to deal with spikes in traffic, particularly around peak trading periods such as Black Friday.

Closeness to customers

Top five

Bottom five

Shoppers should be able to find retailers easily when seeking to buy online, and should be made to feel valued after they have made their purchase, Summit say.

Both paid and natural search visibility are crucial for retailers, but, according to Summit, 28 of the 50 businesses suffered year-on-year declines in searches for their brand.

“Retailers should avoid a high reliance on one or two marketing channels and should diversify across a range of outlets”

Arcadia brands Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge along with department store House of Fraser were among those found to be struggling with demand.

More than half of the 50 retailers were also too reliant on natural searches, Summit said.

It concludes that marketing directors need to better understand “the value of online and offline marketing and the levers available to increase brand awareness”

Summit adds that retailers should avoid a high reliance on one or two marketing channels and should diversify across a range of outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube in order to become more visible to potential customers.

Appeal to customers

Top five

Bottom five

Engaging site content and persuasive promotional messaging are crucial not just in converting website visits into sales, but in building customer loyalty.

The appeal of the product proposition and the strength of product pages – from item descriptions to photography and customer reviews – both play a part.

Two-thirds of online shoppers see high-quality product imagery as being “very important” in their purchasing decisions – 50% of the 50 retailers assessed have overlooked this fact by not including at least four images per product.

“Retailers should carry out small photo shoots – particularly on hero products – to properly showcase their propositions”

Customers are 12 times more likely to trust consumer reviews over brands’ descriptions, Summit says, and are almost twice as likely to buy a higher priced item based on positive customer reviews.

Yet 10 of the UK’s top 50 retailers still don’t include product reviews on their websites.

Retailers should carry out small photo shoots – particularly on hero products – to properly showcase their propositions, and work with third-party review services such as Feefo, Bazaarvoice and Trust Pilot.

Although they scored well through their site navigation and speed, Home Bargains scored poorly on these criteria, lagging well behind the likes of John Lewis and Amazon – both of whom provide a wealth of information to drive consumer trust and conversion rates.

Delighting customers

Top five

Bottom five

Customer service is crucial is creating an online shopping experience that will drive repeat purchases, meaning that delivery, returns and responses to customer queries must all be at the forefront of retailers’ minds.

When it comes to delivery, speedy fulfilment is becoming increasingly important for consumers, but click and collect also continues to grow in popularity. Indeed, almost all of the top 50 retailers offer a click-and-collect service.

But Summit suggests that retailers need to be more aware of the “offline implications” of click-and-collect services, with a quarter of shoppers complaining about long waiting times to collect their parcels in store.

“Some 83% of customers now review returns policies before even making a purchase”

Retailers could address those issues by adding collection lockers, or having staff specifically available to service click-and-collect desks.

Grocers Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s made up the top three in this category, largely driven by their reliable and varied delivery propositions.

But their customer services and returns fell short of expected standards.

Retailers have focused so keenly on their fulfilment propositions in recent years that there is a danger of neglecting those two areas.

Some 83% of customers now review returns policies before even making a purchase. Retailers therefore need to ensure this process is as quick and seamless as possible to avoid losing custom elsewhere.

Top 50 UK retailers’ online performance, table in full