Kaizen’s e-commerce SEO report 2021

Nearly a year to the date of the UK’s national lockdown, the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly saw the acceleration of e-commerce and online shopping soar as businesses were forced to adapt to suit changes in consumer behaviour.

In our latest report, we reveal the brands that have stood the test of time due to their onsite and offsite approach. By looking at their increase in brand awareness, organic performance, and financial value performance we highlight the top 10 brands to watch in 2021.

Our key highlights:

• The brands analysed saw a 44% increase in traffic on average over the past year 
• The report also reveals that brands saw an increase in brand awareness by 11% on average
• Even though brands with an existing online presence still saw an increase, brands that are new but disruptive have seen a huge amount of success from their activity
• Brands available on the stock market saw a 142% increase on average

Here’s a breakdown of the top 5 performing e-commerce brands:

• Lyst – Our winner this year as the best performing brand for retail e-commerce is Lyst. The brand proclaims itself as the ‘definitive shopping platform’ bringing together over 12,000 brands and stores both high street and high end. While the brand domain was already enjoying strong levels of organic traffic, their efforts in building site authority through link-building and other efforts have seen an increase of 380% in people coming to the site. In terms of onsite activity, Lyst has clearly been working smart as well as working hard, with the value of the keywords they rank for spiking by 10 times year-on-year.

• Matches Fashion – Originally a bricks-and-mortar luxury retailer, Matches Fashion was founded in London in the late eighties and has since become one of the biggest names in high-end e-commerce. In 2020, 33 years after establishing, Matches performed extremely well in the online space, with more coverage, better site performance, and most importantly, more visitors to the site. Traffic estimates show that the site enjoyed nearly 25% more traffic than the year prior, which was mirrored by rises in their brand awareness.

• Rent The Runway – A theme that appears to be running through many sectors being disrupted by new brands is the shift from ownership to rental. The subscription-based models of Netflix gives consumers more freedom, and that is reflected by the trajectory of our bronze medallist, Rent the Runway, the female-founded service for renting designer clothing. also a steady brand awareness increase of 8% compared to 2019.

• ASOS – Arguably the brand that needs the least introduction in this list, it would be a shock to many if the British online fashion and cosmetic retailer, ASOS, were not present somewhere in this list. With that said, the historical advantage that a brand like this may have is not always the key to success, and ASOS clearly isn’t resting on its laurels. 2021 is being suggested as the year the brand truly begin to rule retail. This sentiment is clearly one held by investors, with a 61% rise in ASOS stock value since January 2020.

• Farfetch – Farfetch calls itself the ‘global destination for modern luxury’, selling products in all things luxury fashion from over 700 boutiques and brands across the world. They can attribute their 40% rise in brand awareness, and high volumes of press coverage to the interest the media and consumers have in their messaging around sustainability and leading a new generation of fashion. The rising awareness of the brand means that they have enjoyed an 80% rise in organic traffic, and the highest stock price value increase in our rankings of over 400%.

To find out the full list and discover how you can improve your e-commerce strategy, you can read the full report here.

Kaizen supporting businesses in 2021

Whilst many businesses are experiencing growth and success from their newly adopted approaches to digital PR and SEO, at Kaizen we’re also aware of the thousands of businesses that have been impacted due to the pandemic.

This month we launched our pro-bono scheme to help provide free PR support to businesses that need it most. So whether you’re a retailer trying to conquer the digital landscape or a small high street business – we’d love to hear from you.

You can apply for free PR support here.