Marks & Spencer has taken top place in the results of the latest eChannel Retail Benchmark from eDigitalResearch and IMRG. 

Thats thanks to its recently relaunched multichannel presence – and its mobile site not only outperformed all of the other retailers in the study, it even scored higher than their own desktop website.

Amazon came in second place – though its app actually scored higher than M&S – with Topshop rounding out the top three.

“Whilst consumers have said time and time again that they prefer functionality and usability over the design and layout of a mobile site, our eChannel Retail Benchmark results prove that retailers can still create an appealing yet functionable mobile site that allows consumers to shop quickly and easily on the move, but also provides some added inspiration,” said Derek Eccleston, head of research at eDigitalResearch. “Mobile channels are about making the quick quicker and the big bigger. Retailers need to simplify the mobile shopping journey and encourage repeat purchases, whilst still keeping it inline with the rest of the brand.”

The research firms eCustomerServiceIndex, meanwhile, found that 41 per cent of smartphone owners expect to make some of their Christmas purchases on their mobile this year – a growth of 20 per cent from last year.