E-RetailPerformanceReportOneYearOn:2018EditionAreportanalysingtheeffectivenessofUKe-retailersatachievingtheirgrowthpotential.—Contents—•Foreword•Methodology•Brandswetested(A-Z)•Summaryoffindings•Pagespeedandvisitorlosson3G•SocialMedia:thenewfrontier•Utilisingallchannels•Onlinecustomerexperienceandeaseofpurchase•Deliveryoptions•Paymentoptions•Makingthemostofacaptiveaudience•Emailsign-up•Encouragingincrementalspend•ConclusionForeword—Gettingthebasicsright:aretheUK’stoponlineretailersstillfallingshort?It’sbeen12monthssincewecompiledourfirste-retailperformancereportandinthattimethesectorhascontinuedtoseehugesuccess.LatestONSfiguresshowthatonlinenowaccountsforalmost20%ofretailsales–afigurewhichisgrowingat10timestherateofthephysicalstoreequivalent.Thesefiguresarehardlysurprisingagainstabackdropofnethighstreetstoreclosures;evenindustryheavyweightssuchasMarks&Spencerareclosingdozensoftheirtown-centrelocations,shiftingemphasistotheireCommerceoperations.Thisrapidly-changingandincreasingly-saturatedlandscapedemandsthatretailersfightharderthanevertoattractandmaintainshoppers.Addtothis,externalpressuresuchastheintroductionofGDPRandarelentlessstreamoftechinnovationfromthelikesofAmazonandASOS.It’sclearthattheUK’stopretailershavetheirworkcutouttostayaheadofthegameandthatoptimisingwebsiteperformanceisofbusiness-criticalimportance.However,ourlatestreporthighlightsageneralpictureofcomplacencywithinthebiggestnamesinthesectorwhenitcomestomaximisingonlineretailopportunities.Wefoundthat,whilstsomesmallimprovementshavebeenmade,manyperformancemetricshavestagnatedandsomeworsenedsignificantly.Thisyear’slistofretailershaschangedtoreflecttheupdatedtop250asdefinedbytheindustry.Therefore,whereperformancemetricshavedeteriorated,itisunlikelythatindividualretailershavedowngradedtheirwebsites,butratherthattheoverallstandardofthesamplehasdropped.Thisisworryingandsuggestsanincreasinglypoorperformanceamongstthesector’ssupposedlyleadingplayers.Thisprovidesahugeopportunityforsma...
