The Brightpearl Lightning 50 – who are Britain's fastest growing online retailers?

Despite increased footfall since the return of stores this past week, the boom in online shopping during the coronavirus pandemic has been a consistent ray of hope for the retail sector.

As recent IMRG data reveals, online retail sales grew by a whopping 36% in 2020, the highest growth rates since 2007, as more shoppers than ever before switch to online, in part, because of the impact of the Covid pandemic.

With that in mind, Brightpearl is taking a look at the revenue data behind the UK’s online shopping space to produce a definitive list of the 50 fastest growing e-commerce brands over the past 12 months.

Get on it Ecomm Growers 👊 https://t.co/qyjLIntTxB
— Brightpearl (@BrightpearlHQ) April 23, 2021

Brightpearl, which provides digital operations solutions for some of the world’s biggest retail brands, is leading the search to celebrate UK e-tailers which have grown the most during the coronavirus pandemic.

Launching in September of this year, the Lightning 50 seeks to celebrate UK e-tailers which have grown the most during the coronavirus pandemic.

Businesses can enter for the chance to be included in the final list here: Lightning 50 - Brightpearl. Entries close on Friday, 16th July 2021.

Online retailers have been seeing year-on-year sales increases of upwards of 600%, according to data from Brightpearl’s own 1,000 strong customer base.

A recent study from Brightpearl also reveals that two thirds (65%) of shoppers are planning to increase their online shopping spend in 2021 over 2020, and one fifth (20%) will only shop online within the next five years.

Furthermore, two fifths (40%) of buyers are less likely to shop in-store than they were before the pandemic, according to the same consumer study.

Brightpearl’s definitive league table of the fastest growing online retailers is free for businesses to enter, and open to e-commerce businesses with annual turnovers from £1 million-£250 million.

Speaking on the launch of the Lightning 50, Brightpearl’s CEO Derek O’Carroll says: “There has been a big shift to online post-Covid, and with Brits stuck at home for most of the last year, online deliveries have been one of the rare highlights of our stay at home life.”

“Our own data shows many multichannel retailers reporting incredible success since the start of the pandemic - and we decided it was time to celebrate the nation's fastest ecommerce growers over the past 12 months.”

“Brightpearl Lightning 50 only takes into account one metric when scoring businesses - growth. Our hope is that the Lightning 50 will really shine a light on some of the incredible work online businesses have been doing throughout the pandemic.”

As well as revealing the UK’s overall fastest growing online brands, the Lightning 50 will pinpoint the fastest growers spanning sector, including burgeoning areas such as Home & Garden, Health and Fitness, and Clothing.

If you are a fast growing, UK-based online retailer and want to be considered for Brightpearl’s Lightning 50 in 2021, please do enter at Lightning 50 - Brightpearl..