As the world of ecommerce continues to grow, so does the competition. With so many retailers vying for customers’ attention, how can merchants stand out from the crowd?
By learning from the best.
According to the RXUK Top 500 2025 report by Internet Retailing, the top five retailers this year are Amazon, Apple, Boots, Screwfix and Tesco, earning themselves the coveted ‘elite’ status. Each has achieved success in its own way, and in this blog post, we’ll be taking a closer look at the secrets of their success and the lessons we can learn from them.
1. Omnichannel shopping is here to stay
It’s been a challenging few years for retailers. The pandemic sped up the trend that was already emerging for consumers shifting their shopping behaviours online. For many retailers, this shift permanently changed their business model. It’s more important than ever that retailers service shoppers in the way that they want to buy, whether it be online, in store, via mobile or a combination of all three.
Retailers who operate both ecommerce and brick and brick-and-mortar stores should ensure that an omnichannel approach is at the heart of the business. Boots ranked third in the RetailX Top 500, and the cosmetics giant is a great example of prioritising the omnichannel experience for customers to ensure consistency, however they choose to shop.
Boots customers benefit from a diverse offering, which includes in-store, online and through the Boots app – which currently represents 40% of the brand’s digital sales. Boots also offers next-day and click-and-collect shipping services at more than 1,600 of its stores. This is a perfect example of updating and evolving your digital offer to complement your brick-and-mortar stores.
Screwfix, which ranked fourth in the RXUK Top 500, is another great example of how an app can be linked to in-store purchasing to create a seamless multichannel customer journey. With the Screwfix app, you can access your account details and make purchases very quickly using a unique QR code for placing orders in physical stores.
2. Marketplaces are thriving
It’s probably no surprise that Amazon has taken the coveted number one spot in the top 500. After all, it offers maximum convenience thanks to a diverse product offering and convenient next day delivery via its Prime subscription. But Amazon taking the crown also signifies the rise of the online marketplace. Thousands of small sellers trade through the Amazon marketplace in the UK, helping the business to expand its reach and range even further.
While analysis suggests that marketplaces are a small minority of the UK500 (accounting for 7% of retailers), they hugely outperform in terms of traffic and see 48% of UK consumer visits.
The likes of Amazon and eBay are early marketplaces and helped to establish the business model, but they’ve been joined in recent years by big, omnichannel retailers like M&S, B&Q and Next. Meanwhile, Depop and Vinted are attracting shoppers who are happy to buy second-hand products, with brands like IKEA launching their own second-hand marketplaces for customers to find preloved furniture and homeware.
Marketplaces can be a highly profitable revenue stream, and retail brands should take note.
3. Personalised shopping experiences are a must
Personalisation is continuing to dominate the digital commerce space, largely driven by advancements in AI technology. There are multiple ways that retailers can utilise personalisation to improve the customer experience.
The Amazon UK website has evolved from a general storefront to a personalised dashboard where each user is presented with the most relevant product recommendations, categories and special offers to them based on purchase and browsing history. This dashboard also makes it easy to keep track of all orders, subscriptions and services (such as Prime video), creating a fully streamlined user journey – especially important for a website that houses millions of products.
Tesco, ranked fifth in the RKUK Top 500, encourages users to sign in for personalised experiences and highlights relevant seasonal products and promotions, Clubcard prices and fast delivery through its Woosh service. The supermarket is investing in artificial intelligence to better understand customer behaviour and to deliver deeper levels of personalisation, for example through its range optimisation tool that automates product selections by store location and demographics.
Boots is also fully embracing AI for personalisation. The health and beauty retailer is using AI to tap into the data of the 16.9 million customers who use its Advantage Card loyalty programme, as well as exploring new uses for the technology.
For example, last year, the Boots Product Finder launched – a first-of-its-kind online personal shopper tool powered by AI. In addition to helping customers find products, it can also answer a broad range of health and beauty-related questions, including with credible pharmacist-approved guidance.
4. Sustainability is still important
Sustainability has been a big focus among retailers and consumers alike over recent years, and it will remain a major selling point in 2025. It’s important that brands are in touch with their customers’ values.
While Amazon often comes under fire for unsustainable practices, it’s currently leading the way in renewable energy, setting a new corporate record in January 2023 for its purchases of clean energy, and investing billions of dollars in its fleet of branded electric vans worldwide. While many retailers may not have the budget for this kind of delivery method, they should all be considering ways to reduce their business’s carbon footprint and show customers that they’re making positive changes. Simply switching to recyclable product packaging is no longer going to cut it.
Apple, ranked second in the UK Top 500 and the world’s most valuable company as of January 2025, shares progress towards its goal of being carbon neutral across its entire footprint by 2030 on its website. The tech company also has an archive of Environmental Progress reports available to download dating back to 2009.
5. Invest in your website
If there’s something that the top five retailers have in common, it’s a user-friendly website. They use a range of tools to achieve this, from filters that help website visitors find the most relevant products to product reviews and star ratings, making the shopping process quicker, easier, and more likely to end in a sale. Screwfix, for example, shares product reviews and ratings on its product pages. Shoppers can filter the reviews by attribute and see the most helpful favourable review as well as the most helpful critical review to gain a balanced perspective.
We’re seeing many UK high street retailers invest in the ecommerce side of their business, such as Boots, Tesco and Marks & Spencer. These brands use ecommerce as a tool to build on their existing strong positions in the UK market. And these are the brands that are thriving. And while having a user-friendly website may seem obvious, it can make or break your business. Continuous investment to keep up with the latest ecommerce trends and customer demand is essential.
Looking to invest in digital sales channels? Whether you’re struggling with an ecommerce website that just can’t keep up anymore, or need a hand in developing an omnichannel ecommerce strategy, we can help – send us a message to get started.
