Shoppers pick clean, appealing sites for great deals

Brick-and-mortar stores in the UK are taking their operations online as more and more Britons use the internet to find their favourite goods.

Many traditional outlets didn't see a lot of foot-traffic during this back-to-school season, but it wasn't because people weren't shopping - they were just shopping from the comfort of their own homes, using their computers to find the best deals on everything from school uniforms to calculators, a study from Forrester Research finds.

"People are just shifting their dollars to the web," said Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester. "The web is definitely a channel where people are able to find better prices and better values."

But just because people are heading online to shop doesn't mean they aren't paying attention to the same things they cared about in stores - simple navigation, sensible design and good service. American department store Nordstrom just spent three years redesigning its ecommerce portal to be more appealing to its growing online customer base.

"The site is just much cleaner and more visually appealing than before," said a Nordstrom spokesman. "Gone is the busy list of links and multiple tabs on the home page. We've made navigating and shopping the site a lot simpler and more fun for the customer."

According to 4Ps Marketing, the most popular ecommerce outlets in the UK include Amazon, Argos, Apple, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Easyjet.