The second annual study has observed turnover, online and mobile web usability, delivery services, social media campaigns, engagement strategies and marketplaces of UK retailers to compile a ranking of the best performances.

It ranked Amazon, Argos, Boots, House of Fraser, John Lewis, Mothercare and Screwfix as the firms “at the forefront of the UK’s ecommerce and multichannel retail industry”, which granted them “elite” status.

“These elite retailers lead in the world’s most dynamic ecommerce market,” said InternetRetailing editor-in-chief Ian Jindal.

“These are the companies that the industry will watch in order to learn what works in 21st-century retail. Our year-round research captures the impact of new developments and changing retail practice as they happen.”

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Elsewhere, the 20 retailers granted “leading” status included: Asos, B&Q, BHS, Clarks, Currys, Debenhams, eBay, Halfords, Homebase, Marks & Spencer, Matalan, New Look, Next, Office, Sainsbury’s, Superdrug, Tesco, Topshop, Waitress and Wilko.com.

The report also found that the turnover of the UK’s 500 top retailers varies between £500,000 and £43bn. Observing the ecommerce gap, the revenue is between £500,000 and £5.3bn.

Meanwhile, mobile is playing a part for driving business, but the uptake is slow as just 23 per cent of the top 500 firms have a transactional app.

At the end of 2015, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, declared the UK is the world’s ecommerce leader.

“Britain is the leader in ecommerce in the world, far ahead of the US. Britain has every aspect to build £1bn, £10bn, £100bn companies. You have the right regulatory environment. You’ve got the right role within the European continent. Just look at the ecommerce plays and service plays that are now happening in London,” he said.

It’s interesting the House of Fraser has been given “elite” status. The brand has been slammed for its “emojinal” Valentine’s Day Twitter campaign, which led many users to believe the firm had been hacked due to the strange nature of the tweets that were being sent. Some even claimed the luxury department store has destroyed its brand, which may impact its ranking in 2017.

By Zen Terrelonge