Amazon tops online retail poll

Amazon has topped a poll of the 100 most visited websites, receiving 18.8 per cent of purchase visits.

Independent retail analyst Verdict asked 3,000 UK consumers which online retailers they visit when considering making a purchase, with eBay coming in second, some way behind with 7.6 per cent of purchase visits.

Matt Piner, senior retail analyst at Verdict, says, ‘One of the main reasons that Amazon gets so much traffic is its dominance in small, discretionary, frequently purchased products such as books, music, films, video games and clothing.’

Tesco is at third place in the ranking and is the only grocery retailer in the top five.

Argos, Play.com, John Lewis, Asda, Next, Marks & Spencer and Currys make up the rest of the top ten, accounting for more than half of all purchase visit traffic.

Despite the dominance of well-known high street names in the top ten, Piner argues that online retail provides an opportunity for smaller stores to compete with the bigger players.

‘Online has the potential to offer a more level playing field than the high street, as there is potential for smaller retailers to compete with their larger rivals in a way that they are not able to do with physical stores,’ he explains.

Next is the most visited clothing specialist but fashion retailer Oasis plunged 36 places to 93rd in the poll.

Boots dropped four places to 28 in this year’s ranking, while Superdrug made gains, soaring 19 places to number 62.

Verdict is part of the Datamonitor Group which provides online database and analysis services for industry sectors.