This week we released our quarterly Hot Shops List in association with IMRG which saw Apple become the second biggest online retailer in the UK for the first time ever.

Since its inception in 2006 the top of the Hot Shops List has been dominated by Amazon UK and Argos. A number of retailers have fought to win the coveted third place spot in the Hot Shops List including Play.com, Tesco and Next, but Amazon and Argos have never been displaced from the top two spots. Argos dropped to third place this quarter as Apple jumped six places from eighth to second.
UK Internet visits to the Apple website increased five-fold between August and October with Apple accounting for 1 in every 250 visits online in October 2011.

I wrote in October about the sad passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs which not only had an effect on visits to the Apple website but also helped raised awareness of pancreatic cancer, with a seven-fold increase in searches after his death. As well as Jobs’ death, the launch of the new iPhone 4S pushed UK Internet traffic to its highest ever levels for Apple with over 14 million visits in October 2011.
The fast movers of the quarter in the Hot Shops List were ASDA Direct (up 23 places), Very.co.uk (+19), Ticketmaster (+16), H&M (+15) and Toys R Us (+15). Ticketmaster rose to 20th position in the list thanks to announced comeback tours for Steps and the Stone Roses.

You can download the full Hot Shops List from our website. You can also follow Hitwise UK on Twitter for the latest data updates.