Similarweb, the digital research company, has released it’s latest ‘Digital 100’ – a report of the top 100 websites and apps in different countries. The UK version of the report has revealed some websites in the top 5 that have seen growth in the past 12 months that might surprise you.
For the first time, the report ranks both websites and apps that have seen the fastest-growth in 2024. They do this with an overall ‘Big Winners’ list and then across nine different categories:
- Apparel & Accessories
- Beauty & Wellness
- Consumer Electronics
- Food & Drinks
- Home & Garden
- News & Media
- Personal Finance
- Travel & Tourism
- Gaming.
Who are the winners?
The Big Winners top 5 websites in 2024 were:
- gbnews.com – 113% growth
- gloucestershirelive.co.uk – 88% growth
- aliexpress.com – 65% growth
- chatgpt.com – 56% growth
- shop.app – 51% growth
Similarweb’s insight for this said: “GBNews more than doubled its audience to lead the Big Winners list, earning a spot among the fastest-growing News & Media sites in both the UK and the US. AliExpress also grew by 65%, while Gloucestershire Live and Tripadvisor saw strong gains. Ecommerce, travel, and property brands did well, signalling growing consumer confidence.”
For apps, these were:
- Octopus Energy – 64% growth
- Temu – 53% growth
- Ticketmaster – 50% growth
- AliExpress – 44% growth
- Microsoft Edge – 42% growth
And their insight for the top apps was: “Top apps reflect growing consumer confidence, with ecommerce leaders spanning Marketplaces, Home & Garden, and Food & Drinks. Meanwhile, value retailers like AliExpress and Temu, reward apps like Morrisons More, and pre-owned platforms like Vinted are seeing high growth as budgets remain a focus.”
The overall winner across both web and app was Ali Express, with a combined growth of 55%.
As you can see, some of the names featured above might be a bit unexpected, including gloucestershirelive.co.uk and Microsoft Edge (app). However some do seem logically, such chatgpt.com and shop.app, which has made strong grounds in recruiting ecommerce partners to be listed on it.
Category focus: Travel & Tourism
We’ve got several clients who fall under this category, so wanted to highlight these results here. And actually the results for this one are quite surprising, with no Booking.com or AirBNB featuring.
Top 5 websites:
- lovetovisit.com – 154% growth
- airindia.com – 122% growth
- hertz.co.uk – 107% growth
- stagecoach,com – 95% growth
- mytrainpal.com – 88% growth
Top 5 apps:
- Polarsteps – 83% growth
- Viator – 83% growth
- Air France – 74% growth
- Swiss – 70% growth
- Qatar Airways – 70% growth
How could this report help you?
In addition to being an interesting read, the report might also act as a useful source of ideas for inspiration as to things they have done with their website and marketing activity, that you could also look to emulate in order to increase traffic to your own website (or app). This could be especially useful if any of your competitors feature in the top list in your category.
Also, you might be able to gain a better understanding of the types of websites or apps that your own customers could be using, potentially as part of their journey related to engaging with you – for example hertz.co.uk or stagecoach.com in the Travel & Tourism category.
You can read the summaries and download the full report here.
