2013 Q3 UK Retail 500 Website Benchmark – doing well online and off

LONDON - Aug. 27, 2013 - PRLog -- The organisations with the best-functioning websites are often those doing well in the marketplace, because those who focus on their business can’t fail to see the value of their online ’Shop window’ – whether or not they are selling online or just using their digital presence to help persuade potential customers to enter their stores.

The latest Sitemorse UK Retail 500 benchmark is a unique benchmark of the websites of the UK’s top retailers. Testing of the top 500 sites in the retail world generates a ranked table based on checks to Quality, User Experience, Accessibility, Performance and SEO capability of each. To get our results we tested more than 2.5 million separate URLs.

Online leaders such as DFS furniture are proving you can be successful in the marketplace and have a great-working site also. But there are some surprises in store in the latest Index.

It’s not just the ‘posh’ brands such as this quarter’s winner, Anoushka London, Burberry and Fortnum & Mason whose websites perform well. A number of economy brands such as Poundland (up 48 places to 15^th) Primark (up 3 to 22^nd), Bargain Booze (up 5 to 25^th) and Costcutter (up 30 places to 28^th) are among the ‘best in test‘ websites also.

And while some best-known High Street names such as Waterstones, Halfords, Debenhams and Dorothy Perkins still trail the Index, a new website launch from HMV has seen them zoom up so they are touching the top 50, in 57^th place. Only three months ago we reported them nudging the bottom 50 in the Index.

DFS, Anoushka London, the niche fashion and bridal outlet and Lancashire-based Pownall Carpets, who have been producing traditional carpets based on British wool for more than half a century, couldn’t be further apart in terms of product, market and message, but their error-free sites are way ahead of other top 500 retailers. Anoushka scores an excellent 9.3/10 in our ranking , and shares an excellent 9/10 accessibility score with DFS Furniture.

Moving fastest up the Index rankings this time are Topps Tiles (+186), Myvintage.co.uk (+200), shirt maker Turnbull & Asser (+215), Timberland (UK) (+279), while top riser is luxury designer handbags brand Anya Hindmarch , up a staggering 305 places since last time.

Why web accessibility is so important

Today we live much of our life online and websites are critically important on a daily basis.  No less than 15% of European citizens of working age, or 80 million people, have a disability or some form of functional limitation. Both that real number and the percentage will grow as the population continues to age.

Websites that can’t be navigated by disabled users, apart from being illegal, may discriminate against users.
The Equality Act came into force in October 2010, replacing the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in the UK. Like the DDA, the Equality Act was introduced with the intention of comprehensively tackling the discrimination which many disabled people face. Six months ago the European Commission (EC) announced a proposed directive on web accessibility, so the area of accessibility is something that cannot be overlooked or ignored.

DFS and Anoushka are the highest scorers on accessibility, with 9/10, and Blockbuster and Elvi come in with scores of 7/10, but overall this sector does not do well in this area , compared to others like local government which has taken web accessibility particularly seriously in recent years. Why retailers do not score better is a mystery, especially when you consider that the disabled buy goods and services online as do the rest of us, so potentially money is being lost if a poor site annoys the user enough to cancel a transaction and go elsewhere.

About the Index

The quarterly Index Website Review, powered by the Sitemorse software platform, is an important independent benchmark that clearly shows how websites are performing, meeting compliance levels and satisfying their users. It’s also a key indicator for website managers who, while always wanting to be at the top of their game, could be hampered by poor-performing suppliers, non-compliant legacy content or content management systems that often fail to spot errors affecting user experience.

Sitemorse services such as Governisation and the Web Management Toolkit immediately find the issues that affect web users the most on any website, help demonstrate real improvement and ensure you have control and confidence in your web presence.

They will help you minimise unnecessary risk, issues covering everything from compliance with web standards to helping you deal with malware, protect your brand across even a large web presence, and enhance search engine optimisation to help more potential customers find you. They can help spotlight content that may need updating, issues with staff training and support, and focus supplier management. We offer a confidential internal 'company wide' website testing and benchmarking service - allowing you to review the position of all the sites in your organisation. Contact us to request further details and / or an example.

More information

More information about our surveys and what they test can be found on our website http://www.sitemorse.com/survey/

For further Information: Geoff Paddock, Head of Communications on +44 207 183 5588 gpaddock@Sitemorse.com