The retail battle previously seen in the high street has moved online, according to research.
The latest e-retail index results for the first quarter of 2009 from web intelligence firm eDigitalResearch found famous high street names competing strongly against each other and their purely e-commerce rivals.
Marks & Spencer (M&S) topped the quarterly index for the first time, leaping from 10th spot at the end of 2008. Fashion retailers Next (ranked seventh), House of Fraser (in eighth place) and BHS (in 12th) all also showed improvements, while grocers also continued to climb the table with top performing websites, from purchase through to delivery of goods.
"These results clearly show that people are changing their opinions about the ability of traditional retailers to compete online with their pureplay rivals," Derek Eccleston, eDigitalResearch's head of research," said in a statement.
But the usual e-commerce suspects still made a strong showing among the top five of every category the researcher questioned some 10,000 eMysteryShoppers on.
Overall, e-commerce entertainment retailer, Play.com came in second behind M&S, while Amazon was third and clothing e-tailer, ASOS was fifth behind John Lewis.
Eccleston said this quarter's index results also showed retailers operating across multiple channels, with a strong high street presence, were learning from their pureplay rivals.
"Recognition of the entire journey that each customer goes through is the key to success," he said. "It is not just about the homepage through to shopping basket, but how purchase, delivery, email and telephone contact is handled, if there are any problems, that make the difference."
He added that M&S had made a significant investment in the entire customer journey, improving in all areas of its e-commerce website, which gave it particularly strong supporting communications.
Telephone and email contact has continued to rise in importance every quarter, according to Eccleston. "However, there is still lots of room for continued improvement," he observed, referring to the fact that 68 per cent of survey respondents said email contact was still an area where the industry as a whole does not perform well.
The index, which is entering its 10th year, rates the top 43 performing UK websites according to the feedback of paid surveyors, who use their own equipment and internet connections to undertake typical online shopping tasks.
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
What is the Internet of Behaviors (IoB)?Explainer IoB can point your organization in the right direction when hoping to learn what customers really want
-
New MFA security standards for online payments come into forceNews Version 4.0 of PCI DSS also reforms password requirements and broadens its terminology to address other network access controls
-
E-commerce accounts for 20 per cent of sales for UK bizNews Some 81 of UK firms have their own website, according to ONS figures.
-
Retailers can save £1 billion by ‘synching their data’News Retailers working from one source of product data could save money and help make mobile retail a reality.
-
Web sales grow as the high street declinesNews IRMG and BRC both release Christmas online shopping stats.
-
Data mining boosts Jaeger profitsNews The British fashion retailer has achieved a return on its investment three months after installing new loss prevention data mining software.
-
Is TalkTalk vulnerable to takeover?In-depth The telephony and broadband division of Carphone Warehouse is set to be sold. Why is Carphone selling and who is likely to be interested…
-
Shopping centre unveils major IP investmentNews Leicester 'Highcross' centre featuring new integrated networks, security and retail applications has just opened its doors to the public.
