M&S relaunched its website last week, adding new products, new services and international delivery. It was, however, the improved usability that helped M&S top the poll, with the rating up by 15 percentage points from last year to 83 per cent. In last year’s poll, carried out by Webcredible, it was voted the joint ninth-best site for a UK high street retailer. WH Smith was also number one in 2008.
John Lewis remained in third place, with a usability score of 81 per cent. Boots dramatically improved its ranking after a leap in its score from 64 per cent to 80 per cent, putting it in fourth place alongside Woolworths, which has disappeared from the high street and is now online only.
Webcredible said that although usability had improved across the sector, there were basic areas that would greatly improve user experience such as changing the colour of visited links and having the same form for logging on and registering.
Trenton Moss, director of Webcredible, said: "Again this year we have seen an increasing focus on the user experience of websites by high street retailers to a point where no less than five have scored 80 per cent or more for website usability, which is unprecedented"
The criteria used to evaluate the websites takes into account the complete e-commerce experience, including browsing and navigation, the checkout process, searching and product display pages.
Top Ten Online High Street websites 2009
1= WH Smith
1= Marks & Spencer
3 John Lewis
4= Woolworths
4= Boots
6= H Samuel
6= B&Q
8= Early Learning Center
8= HMV
8= Waterstones
Source: Webcredible
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