Research reveals nations favourite shopping sites

Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - 12:16 by Graham Miller

A new survey from Which? has identified the top rated sites which offer safe shopping online in the UK, with the results making interesting reading.

The highest rated outlet covered by the report is AllBeauty.com, which pipped AO.com to the post with a customer score of 87 per cent.

John Lewis managed to creep into fifth position, with Amazon sitting in seventh, with an 81 per cent satisfaction score.

Analysts also published the ten worst performing sites in this year’s study, with the lowest score achieved by EE.co.uk. It received a rating of just 56 per cent and since 10,000 people participated in this report, it is fair to say that the sample size is significant enough to raise some serious questions about the network provider’s online offering.

The main criticism levelled against EE was that its site was lumbered with an unintuitive interface, while customers also complained that delivery options were not clearly explained. This is the second consecutive year in which EE has been voted as having the worst website, so something still needs to change if it is to avoid this fate again in 2017.

Other major brands which fell into the list of the lowest ranked sites for safe shopping online were Tesco Mobile, Sainsbury’s, Sports Direct and Homebase.

Which? spokesperson, Richard Headland, explained that the assets which helped sites to go down well with consumers included affordable prices and a slick, uncomplicated user experience. By comparison, the worst rated sites tended to fail in one or both of these areas, falling short of expectations.

He also said that with the Christmas shopping season just getting started, retailers would need to overhaul their sites and ensure that they perform well, as more and more consumers are likely to purchase gifts online this year than ever before.