League table: The UK’s busiest retail websites – Christmas 2020

The etail titans were the most-visited retail websites in the UK during December, according to figures from online analytics specialist Similar Web, as they benefited from the spike in online shopping during the coronavirus pandemic.

Brits visited Amazon.co.uk almost 490 million times throughout the month, on a par with its performance in December 2019. 

Its marketplace rival eBay closed The Gap, as the number of visits to ebay.co.uk grew 16.7% year on year to more than 320 million. 

Argos was the only traditionally physical retailer whose website was visited on more than 100 million occasions during December. The Sainsbury’s-owned business clocked up almost 105 million visits in the crucial month, a 33.8% spike year on year. 

The likes of Currys, Next, Tesco and Debenhams also experienced healthy growth in the number of visits to their websites amid the government’s ongoing social distancing restrictions.

Although it finished 43rd in the ranking in terms of overall website visits, Moonpig registered the fastest growth in ecommerce traffic during December. 

The online greetings card specialist almost tripled the number of visits to its website as it capitalised on the closure of non-essential retail stores. 

The gains will be music to the ears of potential investors, coming just a week after Moonpig unveiled its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange. 

Fellow pureplay AO grew traffic to its website 151% to 13.4 million hits during the month, while Dunelm and Iceland were the only other retailers in the top 50 to more than double the number of visits to their websites compared to December 2019.    

Morrisons was the fastest-growing grocer by way of online traffic, but its total web visits of 13.6 million during December was dwarfed by each of its big four rivals. 

At the other end of the spectrum, a number of major fashion retailers saw falling traffic to their websites, emphasising the challenges they have faced during the coronavirus crisis. Opportunities for social gatherings were limited during the Christmas period and consumers did not refresh their festive wardrobes in the same way.

Within the top 50, H&M and Zara had the steepest declines, as the number of visits to their websites plunged 87.7% and 85.9% respectively. 

Online specialists Asos and boohoo also experienced sharp drops in web traffic in December but that did not stop both etailers growing sales at a pace during the crucial Christmas trading period.