Amazon trounces the high street

High street retailers are losing the battle for consumers in the face of fierce competition from their online counterparts.

A survey by internet monitoring firm Keynote found that consumers are less likely to spend at the websites of high street names such like John Lewis, Boots, Dixons and Marks & Spencer. By contrast Amazon was the top rated site.

The survey suggests that the key element in the popularity of "web only firms" is price competition, with consumers expecting to find bigger discounts online. Because of this Comet's website was the only high street store to make it into the top three.

"UK consumers are first and foremost driven by cost. They expect websites to undercut high street store prices, and if they don't they're likely to look elsewhere," said Bonny Brown, director of research at Keynote.

"The look and feel of a website is an important factor too, but consumers are not impressed by style alone.

"While John Lewis and Marks & Spencer have developed good-looking sites they fall behind in other areas, particularly pricing, product interest and search satisfaction."

The top frustration for people shopping online is website registration; some 27 per cent indicated that being forced to register in order to purchase puts them off a site.

Shoppers also want easier price comparison between products and more user reviews.