Recent reach into the winners at ecommerce reveals the significant progress made by UK ecommerce in the last four years. It’s anticipated that store visits will decrease this year by between 5% and 10% compared to four years prior, according to shopper analytics expert Forrester Research. Enjoying a current increase of 26.6% YoY, according to ONS data.

In light of this, especially with more consumers having less disposable income for non-essential shopping due to the highest inflation rates in 40 years, pureplay and multichannel retailers must focus on maximising the value of each purchase.

So, how can the top 100 winners in ecommerce achieve this? Turning the unpredictability of online sales into an advantage requires creativity, innovation, and investment. Fortunately, the UK’s top ecommerce retailers in our list provide insights into how to perpetuate an upward trend online.

According to a comprehensive summary of the ranking in this report, to achieve ecommerce success, a strategy must include at the very least:
i. Outstanding digital customer support, covering all aspects from buying assistance to engaging on social media
ii. A robust supply chain system that operates smoothly from the initial to the last stages Investment in mobile applications, whether through software improvements, rewards, discounts, or special deals.
iii. Broadening your online presence by being available in more digital environments through marketplaces, partnerships with retailers, and third-party collaborations.
iv. Enhancing the ability to be found online,
v. Prioritising the use of first-party data, ensuring hyper-personalisation for each consumer, as it delivers the greatest earning potential above everything else combined, sits at the top of your list.

Winners at ecommerce – relationship and relevancy priority

A noticeable pattern among the leading ecommerce retailers in the UK is the genuine bond they’re establishing with their customers through their marketing approaches. This pattern known as “relationship marketing,” specifically revolves around hyper-personalisation and relevancy of product selection offered to each consumer. Which essentially means prioritising the customer at the heart of all operations.

Tim Glomb, the Vice President of Global Content at Marigold, which owns Cheetah Digital, Selligent, and other companies, describes this concept as “listening to consumers as unique individuals and addressing their requirements through marketing activities.” It is fair to say that by listening he means luring from every first-party KPI and touchpoint on the customer journey to identify that single person’s needs, demands, influenceable whims and priorities. This especially involves tailoring every email communication, advertisement, and adjusting your loyalty programs accordingly, among other things. Customers are increasingly weary of receiving impersonal, universal offers from brands, and retailers without the appropriate solutions in place will fall by the wayside.

Glomb mentions: “Our latest consumer trends index also revealed that 49% of individuals are annoyed by content and offers that don’t match their interests, indicating that now is the right time and the technology is available to meet these needs on a large scale.” For example, M&S is focusing on improving its relationship marketing efforts.

Although it has been enhancing the hyper-personal touch in its customer experience through its website, app, and CRM program over the last few years, it has recently installed a custom solution in-house to strengthen customer relationships and foster future expansion. The aim is to achieve widespread hyper-personalisation, transitioning from a targeted promotions approach to one where the variety, interactions, and presentation of products are tailored to each customer, making M&S a more appealing and convenient shopping destination.

The store’s focus on tailoring experiences for customers intensified its efforts. M&S has acquired assets such as the code and algorithms created by Thread and is now recruiting 30 of its former data scientists, software engineers, and styling and creative team members. M&S has mentioned in recent years that it has “created significant value by leveraging customer data, customising relevant offers, and using language and providing recommendations for repeat purchases and related products.” It is expected that more than 20% to 25% of all online interactions will be hyper-personalised this year, but co-chief executive Katie Bickerstaffe aims to increase this to 50% within the next two to three years.

Conclusion

It’s obvious that the leading ecommerce retailers in the UK share several key traits – they’ve focused on technology, personnel, logistics, and, most importantly, customer satisfaction to enhance their online sales performance.

None are suggesting that a single magic solution exists to a successful ecommerce approach, as many of these top online sellers are still adapting to changes. Amazon serves as a prime example, despite its high status and reputation as a dominant force in ecommerce, it hasn’t been spared from the effects of falling online sales and has had to continuously reevaluate and modify its approach.

There’s also a new era for ecommerce, one where new disruptors like Beauty Pie are taking over the online market, and established retailers that were once dismissed by critics, like White Stuff and Quiz, are making a comeback to online expansion. Above all, it’s clear that to remain at the forefront of online retail, companies must update their ecommerce strategies – what was effective in the past may not be effective now.

Hyper-personalisation, of which it is important to appreciate the distinctions, is key, with Asos investing in a data science team to improve its online recommendations to Next doubling down on hyper-personalisation across its website and app, the report has shown that customers have to be at the heart of ecommerce strategy. Retailers have to become customer-obsessed with it now.

The List:

Rank	Store	Platform	Category	Revenue	Monthly visitor	Rating
1	Daily Mail Online	Custom Cart	–	11B-20B	–	–
2	Amazon.co.uk	Custom Cart	–	3001B-5000B	–
3	Glamour UK	Custom Cart	–	31M-50M	1M-10M	–
4	Claire’s	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Arts & Crafts	1B-10B	1M-10M
5	Www.thetimes.co.uk	Custom Cart	–	1B-10B	–	–
6	Depop	Custom Cart	–	1B-10B	–	–
7	John Lewis & Partners	Custom Cart	–	301M-500M	201K-300K	–
8	PrettyLittleThing	Custom Cart	Women’s Clothing	501M-1B	301K-500K
9	The Body Shop®	Custom Cart	Face & Body Care	1B-10B	501K-1M
10	ALLSAINTS	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	–	501M-1B	–	–
11	LOOKFANTASTIC	THG Ingenuity	Hair Care	301M-500M	501K-1M	–
12	Oh Polly UK	Shopify	Women’s Clothing	501M-1B	–
13	Flannels	Custom Cart	Men’s Clothing	501M-1B	51K-100K
14	Motelrocks.com	Shopify	Women’s Clothing	301M-500M	–
15	Cult Beauty	THG Ingenuity	Face & Body Care	101M-200M	–	–
16	Hobbycraft	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Arts & Crafts	301M-500M	21K-30K	–
17	HELLO! US Edition	Custom Cart	–	21M-30M	–	–
18	Trainline	Custom Cart	Bus & Rail	31M-50M	–	–
19	Fortnum & Mason	Magento	–	31M-50M	–	–
20	Gumtree	Custom Cart	–	1B-10B	–	–

Rank	Store	Platform	Category	Revenue	Monthly visitor	Rating
21	Public Desire UK	Shopify	Footwear	201M-300M	–
22	Dolce&Gabbana Online Store	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	–	1B-10B	–	–
23	Next Official Site	Custom Cart	–	1B-10B	101K-200K	–
24	Bear®	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Stuffed Toys	1B-10B	–	–
25	Kick Game	Shopify	Footwear/Athletic Apparel	101M-200M	–	–
26	Boohoo	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Women’s Clothing	1B-10B	1M-10M
27	Days Of The Year	WooCommerce	–	21M-30M	–	–
28	Vision Direct UK	Magento	Vision Care/Eyewear	101M-200M	–	–
29	TeachMeAnatomy	WooCommerce	Biological Sciences	21M-30M	–	–
30	Shop Online At Selfridges	Custom Cart	–	1B-10B	1M-10M	–
31	Chi Chi London	Shopify	Women’s Clothing	101M-200M	–	–
32	River Island	Custom Cart	–	501M-1B	501K-1M	–
33	House & Garden	Custom Cart	Gardening & Landscaping	201M-300M	301K-500K	–
34	Pandoraâ„¢ UK	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	–	31M-50M	–	–
35	Tatler	Custom Cart	–	501M-1B	501K-1M	–
36	Lisa Eldridge	Shopify	Face & Body Care	51M-100M	–
37	Woman &	Custom Cart	–	21M-30M	–	–
38	Volkswagen UK	Custom Cart	–	301M-500M	–	–
39	Notonthehighstreet.com	Custom Cart	–	301M-500M	101K-200K	–
40	Waterstones	Custom Cart	–	501M-1B	–	–

Rank	Store	Platform	Category	Revenue	Monthly visitor	Rating
41	Interflora	Custom Cart	Flowers	201M-300M	–	–
42	Marie Claire UK	Custom Cart	–	11M-20M	–	–
43	House Of Fraser	Custom Cart	–	501M-1B	51K-100K
44	GoodTo	Custom Cart	Food	1B-10B	–	–
45	Liberty	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	–	201M-300M	–	–
46	Warhammer	Custom Cart	Board Games	11M-20M	–	–
47	Reiss	Custom Cart	–	301M-500M	–	–
48	Wickes	SAP Commerce Cloud	–	1B-10B	21K-30K	–
49	Barbour	Magento	–	501M-1B	–	–
50	Free Student Discounts	Custom Cart	–	301M-500M	–	–
51	Very	Oracle Commerce	–	1B-10B	51K-100K
52	Sainsbury’s	HCL Commerce	–	201M-300M	101K-200K	–
53	Creative Bloq	Custom Cart	Visual Art & Design	1M-10M	–	–
54	The Royal Mint	Custom Cart	–	301M-500M	–	–
55	The North Face	HCL Commerce	Footwear/Sporting Goods	501M-1B	–	–
56	Happy Beds	Magento	Bed & Bath/Home Furnishings	101M-200M	–	–
57	Red Magazine	Magento	–	101M-200M	–	–
58	Lakeland	SAP Commerce Cloud	–	201M-300M	–	–
59	Harvey Nichols	Magento	–	101M-200M	–	–
60	Rough Guides	Custom Cart	–	501M-1B	–	–

Rank	Store	Platform	Category	Revenue	Monthly visitor	Rating
61	What Hi	Custom Cart	–	1M-10M	–	–
62	Monica Vinader	Custom Cart	Arts & Crafts	301M-500M	–	–
63	Space NK	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Face & Body Care	201M-300M	–	–
64	Woman &	Custom Cart	–	1M-10M	–	–
65	Alexander McQueen	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	–	1B-10B	201K-300K	–
66	Wayfair.co.uk	Custom Cart	Home Furnishings	101B-200B	–
67	Papier	Custom Cart	Arts & Crafts	201M-300M	–	–
68	Currys	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	–	201M-300M	51K-100K
69	Fred Perry	Magento	–	201M-300M	–	–
70	Dulux	Custom Cart	Home Improvement	201M-300M	–	–
71	Ocado	Custom Cart	Food	201M-300M	31K-50K	–
72	KILLSTAR – UK Store	Shopify	–	301M-500M	–
73	Holland & Barrett	Custom Cart	–	51M-100M	–	–
74	Thompson & Morgan	Custom Cart	Gardening & Landscaping/Agriculture & Forestry	201M-300M	–	–
75	ALDI UK	Custom Cart	Food	1M-10M	51K-100K	–
76	Center Parcs	Custom Cart	Theme Parks	301M-500M	–	–
77	Folio Society	Magento	–	101M-200M	–	–
78	Base	THG Ingenuity	Home & Interior Decor/Home Improvement	501M-1B	31K-50K	–
79	Yours Clothing	Custom Cart	Women’s Clothing	101M-200M	–	–
80	Wrexham AFC	Custom Cart	Team Sports	501M-1B	–	–

Rank	Store	Platform	Category	Revenue	Monthly visitor	Rating
81	Bravissimo	Custom Cart	Undergarments/Swimwear	301M-500M	–	–
82	GAME	HCL Commerce	Computer & Video Games	301M-500M	31K-50K	–
83	Coast	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Women’s Clothing	101M-200M	–	–
84	To Accessorize Global	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	–	101M-200M	–	–
85	Hotel Chocolat	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Food	301M-500M	–	–
86	WHSmith	Custom Cart	–	201M-300M	–	–
87	Ticketmaster UK	Custom Cart	–	501M-1B	301K-500K	–
88	NADINE MERABI	Shopify	Women’s Clothing	301M-500M	–
89	Dreams	SAP Commerce Cloud	Bed & Bath	501M-1B	–	–
90	London Gatwick Airport	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Air Travel	1M-10M	–	–
91	New Balance	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Footwear/Athletic Apparel	501M-1B	11K-20K	–
92	Dune London	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	Footwear	101M-200M	–	–
93	Carpetright	Custom Cart	Home Furnishings	101M-200M	–	–
94	Abbott Lyon	Shopify	Clothing Accessories	501M-1B	–
95	Victoria Beckham UK	Shopify	–	101M-200M	–	–
96	Zalando UK	Custom Cart	Footwear	201M-300M	51K-100K	–
97	Warehouse	Salesforce Commerce Cloud	–	101M-200M	–	–
98	TOAST	Shopify	Women’s Clothing	101M-200M	–	–
99	Joules®	SAP Commerce Cloud	Footwear	201M-300M	–	–
100	SilkFred	Custom Cart	Women’s Clothing	101M-200M	–	–