The IMRG/ Hitwise Hot Shops List

The IMRG / Hitwise Hot Shops List, now four years old, provides a unique perspective on how the e-retail market leaders are performing in terms of attracting visitors to their websites.  Clothing is one of the fast growing online sectors. Top 100 sees

Amazon retains the List's top spot every time and seven of the original May 2006 top ten brands are still in the top ten. Six of the top ten have physical stores, up from four last May and thirty three of the top 50 retailers have physical stores, up from twenty-three in 2006.

At number 1, Amazon's dominance of the Hot Shops List has remained unchallenged every quarter since the List was first published in May 2006.  Argos has retained second place this time following it's move back to that spot last year.

Argos (2/originally 3) retained the second spot that it gained last year and Play.com (3/5) has remained in third position since May 2008.  Apple Computer (4/10), moved up to 4th place from 17th position in May last year, on the back of the much anticipated launch of the iPad.

Clothing is one of the fastest growing online shopping sectors, with nine specialist retailers on the List including Marks & Spencer (7/23), Next (8/14) and ASOS (15/50).

IMRG's CEO, James Roper, comments:
"With multichannel retailers now accounting for two-thirds of the top 50 merchants, it is clear that those with both physical stores and an online presence are leading the growth in e-retail. This is also evidenced in the IMRG Capgemini E-retail Sales Index, where multichannel retailers are consistently outperforming their pureplay counterparts in terms of sales growth. Not surprisingly, fashion retailers continue to move up the Hot Shops List as clothing remains one of the fastest growing online sectors."

Hitwise's Director of Research, Robin Goad, comments:
“With Summer just round the corner, department stores such as John Lewis, Debenhams and Tesco Direct continue to gain market share at the expense of their smaller, specialist retail rivals.”

Image: ASOS