The latest ranking of nations based on e-commerce growth over the past 12 months, by analysts at AT Kearney, has put the UK in third place, allowing it to overtake Japan and sit second only to China and the US in terms of the strength of its market for shopping online, according to Warc.

In fact, there was quite a shakeup in the rankings for 2015, with the US returning to the top spot in spite of strong growth in China. And the size of these nations, along with the spending power of their consumers, shows just how important e-commerce is to the UK’s identity at the moment.

As well as the UK benefitting from an improved position in this year’s report, countries including Spain were able to enter the top 30 e-commerce nations for the first time. And so while the UK may not quite be capable of achieving world-leading status, it is certainly at the head of the market for shopping online in Europe.

Industry expert, Mike Moriarty, explained that the retail market was adapting to the rise of online shopping by adopting a multichannel approach to engaging with consumers. So rather than solely seeking to court their custom via one platform or another, a mix of web, mobile and bricks and mortar retail is being harnessed in many instances.

This gives consumers more choice and flexibility, while the popularity of online shopping in the UK also means that there is a lot of competition and plenty of incentive for retailers to offer competitive prices and top quality levels of customer service.

Whether the US will be able to hold onto the top spot in the wake of China’s continued fervour for e-commerce is another question, with next year’s report likely to reveal yet more ranking shifts.