The latest report from consumer group Which? has revealed that there is a distinct gap between the best sites which offer safe shopping online to UK customers and those which fall short of expectations.

At the top of the pile were a number of well-known brands as well as some smaller sites which were rated most highly by the 7500 respondents to the report, according to the Birmingham Mail.

The number one spot was taken by Liz Earle, a health and beauty retailer which is able to offer a more personalised service that customers really value. Second place went to long-standing electronics and audio outlet RicherSounds, which has consistently appeared in the best-of list year after year.

Other frontrunners including John Lewis, Rohan and Dyson, although most notably it was clear that niche retailers were doing better than their larger rivals this year.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale in terms of customer experience were another clutch of household retail names. Homebase was the most regularly criticised for its e-commerce site, just ahead of B&Q with its DIY.com outlet.

Other retailers which could do with improving their online presences include Sports Direct, Matalan and fashion brand Zara.

Report spokesperson Harry Rose said that it was clear that some retailers simply did not get the message about the need to enhance the customer experience in their online offerings, since plenty of the worst-performing brands this year were also down in the doldrums of the rankings last year as well.

He explained that the thing which helped the top performers stand out from the crowd was personalisation, since consumers value being able to get a more bespoke e-commerce experience as well as one which is intuitive and easy to use from the very start.