The UK's Top 50 online shops: IMRG Hitwise

Amazon and Argos are still the UK's top online shops, with Next overtaking Tesco and Play.com to claim third place in the latest quarterly UK top 50. The new Hot Shops List (below) was published today by IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group), the industry e-tailors' association, and web-tracker Experian Hitwise.

Travel Republic made the biggest gain, climbing 18 places since May, and travel sites now make up about a quarter of the Top 50. However, Hitwise's Robin Goad noted that "most of the travel brands are ranked lower this quarter compared to the same quarter last year, with notable exceptions being Travel Republic and British Airways".

Other "fast movers" were Odeon Cinemas (up 14 places), First Choice (+12), Travelodge (+12) and Cineworld (+9), compared with the table three months ago. The biggest losers included Homebase (down 18 places), with ASDA Direct (-14), B&Q (-9), HMV.com (-8) and Littlewoods (-7) all tumbling down the table.

IMRG's Tina Spooner said: "Comparing the current rankings with those of 12 months ago, House of Fraser (+20), Sainsbury’s (+12), IKEA (+12) and British Airways (10+) put in some of the strongest performances in terms of traffic growth. There are also some clear downshifts, for example in the entertainment sector, although huge movie franchises such as Harry Potter resulted in some strong gains for the cinema groups."

Hot Shops List