Guitar retailer GuitarGuitar has finished top of the charts in the inaugural Web Vitals Index, a new list that ranks the highest-performing eCommerce websites in the UK.

The list, compiled by website testing firm RapidSpike, triangulates a range of metrics including Google’s Core Web Vitals user experience benchmark; website performance over time; accessibility; page structure; and reliability. Shoe retailer Gabor comes in second, followed by another shoe retailer, Superga, Microsoft and jewellery and watch maker Thomas Sabo. Apple ranked 11^th. The rankings will be updated weekly, and while initially focusing on the UK retail sector, ongoing iterations of the Index will widen the reach to include global eCommerce brands.

“From being a functional tester to a performance engineer, and then owning my own business and websites, I know how critically important it is to get the basics right,” said RapidSpike CEO, Gav Winter. “I have also seen the scale of the catastrophe –  not least from a reliability perspective – when things go wrong. “It worries me that performance engineering and website monitoring are often considered reactive tick-box exercises, rather than the proactive source of empowering, business-changing information that it should be – especially in the era of the ever-more discerning customer.

With the direct correlation between website speed and conversion now widely acknowledged – with every second saved over three seconds said to boost conversions by 7 per cent – even marginal gains of 0.1 per cent could represent millions of extra revenue for the UK’s largest brands.