What is the Top 400 Europe?
The 400-page Top 400 Europe is the first and only ranking of the major retail chains, catalog/call center companies, consumer brand manufacturers and web-only merchants that sell online in Europe. Each retailer’s individual profile and listing is a complete set of comprehensive performance and business metrics, including annual web sales, which is the basis of Internet Retailer’s Top 400 Europe proprietary rankings. Also included are monthly web site visits, average ticket, and conversion rate. A detailed index of URLs also breaks down the e-commerce brands operated by Europe’s biggest retailing and direct marketing companies.
back to top
Why should I purchase this publication?
Collectively, Europe is a bigger online retailing market than even the U.S., but most sales are local and consumers prefer shopping online in their home country. To identify who the major web retail players are in each diverse market and across the continent, Internet Retailer introduces the Top 300 Europe, the first ever comprehensive ranking of the 300 largest European retail web sites. Each listing is packed with financial and operational data.
back to top
What can I learn about the e-commerce market leaders in Europe?
Selling online in Europe is completely different than any other international web retailing markets, including the U.S. In fact, Europe is a series of individual e-commerce markets and each market has its own distinct shopping audience. To sell successfully online in Europe, you must know who the players are in each country, how they compete in their local market and what share of the market they control. The Internet Retailer Top 400 Europe analyzes the e-commerce sites of the 400 leading online retailing companies and breaks down the key details and operating metrics of each one.
back to top
How can I buy a copy of the Internet Retailer Top 400 Europe?
The Internet Retailer Top 400 Europe is available for $69 plus shipping. You may order at our secure Internet Retailer Shop page by
clicking here.back to top
Where do your figures for a certain e-retailers online sales come from?
For about half of the list, from the horse's mouth, that is, from the e-retailers themselves. For the other half we estimate the e-retailer's annual sales online for the past year by analyzing traffic patterns for the e-retailer's web site, based on traffic numbers we get from comScore, and by applying average tickets and conversion rates found for other sites in the retailer's merchandising category.
back to top
How do we get our web site listed in the Top 400 Europe?
Since all e-retailer rankings in the Top 400 Europe are based on a web merchant's prior year online sales, retailers must demonstrate that they have annual online sales that are at least as high as the 400th-ranked web site. If your site has those numbers and we failed to include you in the Guide, contact Internet Retailer's Research Director, Mark Brohan at mark@verticalwebmedia.com.
back to top
How do you collect all the additional non-sales information on each of the e-retailers profiled in the Top 400 Europe?
The Top 400 Europe uses a combination of internal research staff and well-known e-commerce market measurement firms such as comScore, Compete.com, Hitwise.com, Foresee Results, Gomez and Conductor to collect and verify information. For example, the internal research staff spends up to four months breaking down the more than two dozen individual features and functions on each Top 400 web site. Key metrics such as monthly unique visitors or total monthly visits are supplied by the retailer or compiled by comScore or Compete Inc.
back to top
Who on the IR team researches the Top 400 Europe content?
A team of four senior editors headed up by the research director spends six months each year compiling data, writing profiles, researching companies and fact-checking data for each Top 400 retailer. Surveys with compiled historical information are sent to each existing Top 400 merchant and likely newcomers at the beginning of each research cycle. Retailers then up update their information and the new data is verified and edited by the research team. Each retailer sees their individual compiled data summary at least three times during the course of the research to verify and update their information.
back to top
If we don't want our company in the Top 400 Europe, can we ask you to not include us?
You can ask, but the answer will always be no. The Top 400 Europe is a painstakingly researched and objective editorial product. If we have information that puts your company among the 400 largest e-retailers in Europe, we owe it to the buyers of the Guide to include you in the rankings.
back to top
Why is the Top 400 Europe published in March when the numbers it collects and reports are for the prior year's online sales?
The Top 400 Europe is edited and published as soon after the end of the fourth quarter as humanly possible in order to supply the online retailing market with the most-up-to-date information. Most Top 400 retailers, including both public and private companies, don't disclose their annual financials such as web sales until January of the following year. By the March publication date, the Top 400 staff has surveyed the industry and compiled the latest web sales total for each merchant ranked in the Top 400 Europe.
back to top
How can we advertise in the Top 400 Europe?
Contact the IR advertising representative for your region. For more information, go to the Contact Us page of this web site.
back to top
Do the rankings change each year?
Yes. Some retailers such as Amazon.com will be in each annual issue. But each year as the web retailing market grows in size, new and bigger web retailers are added to the rankings while some smaller companies drop off. In the case of the 2012 Top 400 Europe, last year’s edition featured only the 300 top-ranked web sites, so for 2012 we have added data on 100 extra companies.
back to top
Is the Top 400 Europe updated with fresh sources of additional material each year?
As web retailing becomes more complex, the Top 400 Europe keeps up with the times by adding new metrics and each year.
back to top