Ranking: Meet the UK’s top 30 ecommerce retailers

We know ecommerce in the current climate isn’t easy. Alongside supply chain disruption, global political instability and soaring inflation, we’ve entered our third year of high living costs in the UK – further tightening the purse strings of cash-strapped consumers.  

Retailers are having to work harder than ever to win digital spend, but many are still coming out on top.  

Based on exclusive FY2023 forecast data from Retail Navigator, The UK’s Top 30 Ecommerce Retailers, produced in association with Ecommpay, Rithum and Zendesk, delves into retailers’ market-leading strategies, pulling out vital learnings to provide a toolkit you can learn from and be inspired by in 2024. 

It also features an additional ranking of the ones to watch – the top 30 by UK online sales growth year on year for FY2022 and a deep dive into the tools powering their success.  

So, who’s winning and what can you learn from them? We’ve pulled out two of the top ecommerce behemoths from the ranking to reveal the customer-centric investments, tech and data solutions powering their growth. View the top 30. 

 

Amazon – 1 

• FY2023 forecast UK online sales: £26.4bn (+8% on 2022)
• FY2022 total UK online sales: £24.4bn (+5.1% on 2021)

For another year running, it’s no surprise that ecommerce leader Amazon sits at the top of our forecast sales ranking, following a year of rapid-fire strategy shifts to adapt to the changing market.  

And with forecast UK online sales of £26.4bn (up 8% on 2022) and a forecast five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.2%, the marketplace doesn’t look set to lose its crown anytime soon. 

In 2023, the brand adopted a “maniacal focus” on customer experience while also striving to lower its cost to drive future growth, which continues to shape its strategy moving forward.  

Warehouses have seen wins and losses over the past year. Three older formats shuttered in 2023 and two state-of-the-art sites were added in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, and Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, the latter complete with three floors of Amazon robotics tech.

However, the new sites have not been without their issues. In January 2024, members of the GMB Union announced a strike over pay and working conditions at the Birmingham Sutton Coldfield site, an addition to 28 days of industrial action held by Amazon Coventry staff since January 2023.  

The retailer says it has invested £125m in pay rises for UK hourly paid workers in less than a year and regularly reviews wages. Nevertheless, further strike action at Amazon Coventry was announced in January of this year.  

A leader in robotics implementation for over a decade, the retailer unveiled a headline-grabbing robot named Digit in October 2023, and its much-hyped 60-minute drone deliveries are set to take flight in the UK in late 2024.  

Partnerships with Meta and Snap debuted in November 2023, enabling shoppers to buy Amazon items direct from apps, with a ‘Consult a friend’ functionality empowering customers to share, comment and react to products.  

The retail behemoth is also set to branch into a surprising new market – a strategic partnership with Hyundai to sell cars online in the US. After purchasing a car online, customers will be able to have it delivered or pick it up themselves in the dealership.

The aim of the partnership, according to Amazon? Customer experience. Making it “easy for customers to purchase a new car online… all within the Amazon experience they already know and trust”.  

Asda – 4

• FY2023 forecast UK online sales: £3bn (+6.6% on 2022)
• FY2022 total UK online sales: £2.8bn (+8.3% on 2021)

Asda sits fourth in the ranking as it rounds out a productive year underpinned by digital transformation, acquisitions, quick commerce development and the rapid expansion of its value-led convenience store chain.  

With forecast UK online sales of £3bn (up 6.6% on 2022) and a five-year CAGR of 5.5%, the retailer has bold ambitions in its long-term plan to overtake Sainsbury’s and become the UK’s second-largest grocer.  

Currently at 13.4% market share, above Aldi (9.6%) and behind Sainsbury’s (15.6%) it will be interesting to see the outcomes of Asda’s growth strategy over the coming months.  

As the cost of living has continued to bite, the grocer has continued to reinforce its value-led credentials over the past year.

At the start of 2024, it became the first UK supermarket to price-match both Aldi and Lidl, slashing its prices by an average 17% across more than 280 products.  

And investment in price isn’t a new strategy. In 2023 the retailer invested £130m in lowering prices across 600 products, resulting in an impressive 14.7% jump in year-on-year own-brand sales.  

Unified commerce is the end goal for the grocer, which, following its separation from Walmart in 2021, is undergoing a transition of its ecommerce business onto a state-of-the-art platform designed around customer experience and agility.

Its new ‘digital core’ will streamline the supply chain, forecasting, buying and merchandising, HR, warehouse management and ecommerce.  

Improving online fulfilment is very much in the spotlight, with the focus on upping delivery speed, expanding the range available and improving substitutions.

Rapid delivery options, ordered online through partners and delivered to customers directly, include Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo, while Asda’s own Express delivery service transports product from store to door in as little as one hour.  

Matt Kelleher, the supermarket’s first chief digital officer, was appointed in January 2024, and is responsible for overseeing the brand’s data and ecommerce functions as it continues its transition to become a “new value-led consumer champion”.