Mainstream chains better specialists’ online offering

Mainstream retailers, from electricals outlets to supermarkets, have outperformed specialist game retailers in a recent survey of retail websites.

The Retail Bulletin study judged sites on a range of criteria, including function, accessibility, code quality, and performance. Specialist website testing company Sitemorse gathered the survey data using an automated testing system.

Out of 110 sites examined, covering all aspects of retail, the highest site offering video games was clothing retailer Next, at No.4 with a score of seven out of ten. Electricals specialists Comet followed at No.12, with Tesco Direct at No.16, and Argos at No.27.

Traditional games and entertainment retailers were considerably lower in the results, with online retailer Play.com at No.60, HMV at No.78 and GAME at No.90.  DSG International’s group of websites performed poorly, making up the bottom of the chart, with Dixons at No.100, PC World at No.106 and Currys at No.108.