InternetRetailing’s Top500 is the definitive index of retail performance in the UK and the European Economic Area, with annual updates for both regions. Read the latest reports on the Europe Top500 and UK Top500 here.
The tracking list
The hardest part of the Top500 is getting companies onto our radar – we use web traffic services to isolate the biggest ecommerce websites in the UK, we look at shopping centres, we look at other lists and we even check the local high st. None of these measures is perfect and sometimes we find out that a company doesn’t feature in the Top500 list simply because we were not tracking it. Our current tracking list includes several thousand companies. Tens of thousands of websites are also on the radar. (Note: you can tell us about your company to ensure we’re tracking it.)
‘Footprint’ or size
The Top500 is made up of the largest 500 retailers in the region. We combine a company’s retail revenue, ecommerce revenue, web traffic volume, and its number of stores into a ‘Footprint’ Index – the largest 500 by that measure make it into the list for the year.
A performance index
Hundreds of performance metrics including, for example, customer service response times and delivery options, are divided into six ‘dimensions’ – Strategy and Innovation, The Customer, Operations and Logistics, Merchandising, Brand Engagement, and Mobile and Cross-channel. A retailer’s results in these areas contribute 70 per cent of its weighting in the final Top500 Index, with the Footprint Index providing the remaining 30 per cent. The Top500 does not have a 1-500 ranking but is instead separated into performance clusters, which gives each retailer its position for the year.
Beta test?
RetailX, the research company behind the Top500, is developing a new way for retailers to access the data in the Top500 ecosystem, with a website serving as a portal. The purpose is to allow a retailer to benchmark their company against competitors and to receive notifications when a tracked company has introduced a significant change. Contact research@internetretailing.net if you would like to participate in a beta test of this system in the coming year.
