Similarweb Celebrates 100 Digital Businesses That Achieved Growth
The Digital 100 ranks the fastest growing web businesses providing a snapshot of new online shopping habits among UK consumers. Similarweb (NYSE: SMWB) released its annual Digital 100 ranking of the UK’s fastest growing digital businesses, along with rankings for the US, France, Germany, India, Japan, Brazil and Australia.
The report covers five key categories: Apparel & Accessories, Beauty & Cosmetics, Home & Garden, Personal Finance, and Travel & Tourism with a focus on consumer brands transacting business online. Ranked by percentage increase in web traffic from 2022 to 2023, each of the winners was already operating a substantial online business in 2022, but significantly increased its reach in 2023.
The category winners are:
Apparel & Accessories Winner: Adanola (adanola.com) +338%
Sportswear British brand Adanola tops the list in terms of year-on-year growth in this category, which echoes recent news from Adanola which reported a 311% increase in turnover while its active customer database grew by over 250%. Overall, with five other brands (Goat +138%, Onitsuka Tiger +117%, Represent +70%, KICKS CREW +68%, and Express Trainers +67%) which retail sportswear or streetwear apparel, the athleisure trend – a hybrid of casual and athletic wear – remains popular among UK consumers. Purpose-led brands with a focus on sustainability also with Vinted, Nobody’s Child, Joanie Clothing and Scamp and Dude reaching respectively +103%, +89%, +83% and +79% year on year traffic growth.
Beauty & Cosmetics Winner: Sephora (sephora.co.uk) +705%
Following its re-entry in the UK market last year with the opening of its Westfield White City store in March and Westfield Stratford in November, Sephora is the clear winner of the Beauty and Cosmetic category with +705% YoY growth in web traffic. Amid the current cost-of-living crisis, the popularity of dupes of higher-end products is getting stronger with The Essence Vault witnessing a 94% increase in terms of year-on-year growth, ranking fourth in the list.
Personal Finance Winner: OKX (okx.com) +209%
The cryptocurrency exchange platform OKX is the winner of this category. Crypto currency online services dominate the list with seven other websites in this field (bitmart.com +161%, kyberswap.com +121%, mexc.com +115%, LemFi gate.io +113%, plutus.it +89% and bingx.com +85%) ranked in the top twenty. Amid the current cost-of-living crisis, UK consumers flocked to short term loan providers like My Finance Club (+207% YoY traffic), or credit card provider Zable (+ 159%) or Buy Now Pay Later services such as DivideBuy (+97%) or Zilch (+67%).
Travel & Tourism Winner: Blue Pillow (bluepillow.co.uk) +182%
Despite the unfavourable economic landscape, UK consumers have continued to seek escapism with the global vacation rental search engine, Blue Pillow ranking first this year in this category. Shoppers have continued to prioritise discounted offers and convenience with low-cost airline Fly Norse ranking second (+146% YoY growth) and tour operator Great Rail (+120%) completing the top three of this list. However, two luxury providers Luxury Escapes (+115%) and Destinology (+70%) reached respectively the fifth and fifteen spots.
Home & Garden Winner: The Wood Veneer Hub (thewoodveneerhub.co.uk) +136%
Due to a turbulent housing market with vast fluctuations in mortgage interest rates, UK homeowners have prioritised home improvement, instead of committing to costly and uncertain moves. The Wood Veneer Hub, which caters to woodworking requirements, tops the list in this category with +136% year-on-year growth.
“The Digital 100 is our annual celebration of business success online, highlighting online brands that have achieved huge increases in their online audience within a single year,” Similarweb CEO Or Offer said.
Richard Robinson, AVP UKI & Northern Europe at Similarweb, added: “It is clear that the cost of living crisis continues to shape shopping behaviour with a prevalence of discount brands topping the list. The rising trend of cosmetic dupes illustrates well how UK consumers want affordable luxuries to sit alongside the growing popularity in sustainable fashion. Yet despite financial restraints, consumer confidence is returning and community-centric retailers are benefitting from lifestyle changes (Adanola and YourClothing to name two) which resonate with a diverse Britain.
For more details, see the full Digital 100 report for the UK at similarweb.com/corp/digital-100-uk/
Additional analysis, including articles to follow in the coming weeks, will be published on the Similarweb Insights News team blog.
