ONLINE retailers are expecting a record-breaking Christmas season as more shoppers than ever log on to buy Harry Potter DVDs and the latest X-Factor CD.
Experian Hitwise today published the quarterly edition of its 'hot shops' list, which ranks the top 50 e-retailers, and it showed little change at the top with Amazon, Argos and Play cementing their position as the three most popular retailers in the UK.
New entrants to the top 10 this quarter were Apple, John Lewis and Tesco Direct.
The biggest movers this quarter were GAME, boosted by the recent success of the release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II which broke records on it's opening day and sold out in Wrexham and Flintshire, climbed twenty places, Boots, which moved up nineteen places, and Sainsbury's, which climbed seventeen.
An excellent quarter for supermarkets and their departmental online stores was rounded off with ASDA Direct moving up fifteen spots.
PC World moved up ten while ASDA, New Look and John Lewis all moved up nine spots.
There were no new faces in the list this quarter but Toys 'R' Us UK, Carphone Warehouse and HP all re-entered the Top 50 after an absence of just one quarter.
Several brands fell significantly this quarter compared to last with the recession taking it's toll on leisure activities, as more and more people holiday at home Thomas Cook fell thirty places, and a bad month for cinema bookings saw Odeon Cinemas & Cineworld Cinemas both fall fourteen spots.
Thomson Holidays fell thirteen places and Littlewoods moved down ten, with Halfords, TravelRepublic.co.uk and First Choice falling out of the top 50 completely.
Experian Hitwise's Director of Research, Robin Goad said: "As we approach Christmas, retailers from sectors that traditionally do well at this time of year have improved their positions on the list."
"Department stores such as Marks and Spencer, John Lewis and the supermarket properties have all moved up the rankings, while Amazon UK and Argos retain the top two positions," he said.
"Also two much anticipated new product releases - Microsoft Windows 7 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - led to an increases in demand for software, computers, video games and consoles, helping both electonics and entertainment retailers pick up more visitors this quarter."
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Will you be buying online this Christmas?
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