The Q3 2025 benchmarking report for UK convenience stores has just been published. Learn how 11 of the top UK convenience stores perform across the digital space.
The Q3 2025 benchmarking report for UK convenience stores has just been published. It covers 11 of the largest national convenience stores, including Budgens, Costcutter, Londis, Nisa, One Stop Stores, The Premier Stores, SPAR UK, Best One, Day-Today, Keystore, and One O One Convenience Stores - it highlights year-on-year digital performance, plus winner and loser comparisons in 20+ online performance metrics.
The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other convenience stores to win brand exposure locally, increase in-store footfall, and drive traffic online. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.
To see a preview and contents page of the Q3 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 11 convenience stores on, check out our quick-look table below;
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing UK convenience stores or request a copy of the report for the full review.
The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each brand based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.
Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will under-perform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.
Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. For convenience stores, they'll want to take particular care that key pages, such as store locators, are clearly sign-posted.
In our previous audit, One Stop received the most 404 errors (29). This quarter, One Stop remains the convenience store with the most 404 errors, and they’ve since increased this figure to 38. It’s normal for websites to have some 404 errors, especially as content is updated, moved, or removed over time. Search engines understand this and don’t penalise occasional errors. However, a large number of unresolved 404s can hurt user experience and SEO if not managed properly.
When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. Convenience store customers will often be visiting sites on the go, looking for nearby branches that they can immediately visit. Therefore an optimal mobile page experience is essential for giving a good impression of the brand.
In our previous report, Best One flagged the slowest mobile site speed (17). This quarter, Best One no longer received the slowest mobile site speed, and they’ve since increased their score to 57. Currently, the mobile site speed ranged between 72 and 35, with Costcutter reporting the lowest score. It’s normal to see fluctuations in mobile site speed due to factors like server load, network conditions, or changes in website content. Updates such as new plugins, larger images, or third-party scripts can also temporarily slow performance. Regular monitoring site speed helps identify whether fluctuations are minor or signal deeper issues.
Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, ie. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. With a range of products on offer, convenience stores should be able to create digital PR campaigns spanning multiple content themes, giving them a range of opportunities to build authority.
A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it is generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. In our last report, Day-Today reported the lowest DA (18). This quarter, Day-Today remains the convenience store with the lowest DA, continuing to report a score of 18. Backlinks are the most effective way to improve a website’s domain authority, as they signal trust and credibility to search engines. High-quality backlinks can be earned by creating valuable, shareable content, reaching out to industry influencers, and guest posting on reputable websites.
A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Due to the cost-of-living crisis, we're seeing that many potential customers across a number of sectors are either cutting back on expendable items, or opting for cheaper alternatives. Convenience stores may be feeling the impact of this, as their potential customers may be taking greater care to do larger shops at cheaper supermarkets, as opposed to picking up items as needed.
Five convenience stores reported a decrease in organic traffic on desktop, while 6 stores saw a decrease on mobile. Some websites get more organic traffic on one device because user behaviour and intent differ between desktop and mobile. For example, desktop users often perform in-depth research, while mobile users look for quick answers or local information. Site design, speed, and mobile-friendliness can also impact how easily users navigate and engage on each device. Additionally, search engines may rank pages differently based on mobile usability, affecting traffic distribution.
Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a brand can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. For convenience stores, they'll want to ensure they're appearing for 'Local Pack' results, ensuring they are prominent when potential customers are looking for a nearby shop.
SPAR UK remains at the top of the leaderboard for the most Universal Search appearances (11,700), an increase from 8,500 in our previous report. The majority of these appearances came from ‘images’ (6,000).
Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for brand-new search terms as they enter Google’s index. For convenience stores, long-tail keywords could be focused on specific products that potential customers are looking for, and a strong performance here could see quick visits from local customers needing a last-minute ingredient or essential item.
SPAR UK secured the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (1,602) and the most appearances for positions 4–10 (3,594). Short-tail keywords can drive high volumes of traffic but are often very competitive and less targeted, leading to lower conversion rates. Longtail keywords attract smaller, more specific audiences who are closer to making a decision, resulting in higher-quality traffic. Combining both strategies allow a website to balance visibility and relevance for maximum organic traffic effectiveness.
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019. For convenience stores, they can use Facebook adverts to drive awareness of deals or sales events, or use local targeting to improve brand awareness in areas that footfall is low.
We’ve included screenshots of Budgen’s sponsored Facebook posts. This UK convenience store used a video for all posts, which is a more effective way of increasing engagement compared to images.
When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your brand engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. As we've mentioned previously, convenience stores can create content supporting any of their product lines, whether that's through recipe content, household cleaning items, or seasonal ranges.
Budgens secured the most Facebook Likes (238,200), and Costcutter received the most Instagram followers (21,100). Twitter was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Nisa received the highest total engagement rate (2,481) and the highest average engagement (56).
20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, brands lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Convenience stores will want to ensure a 'convenient' brand experience for all potential customers, at any digital (or in-store) touchpoint.
In our last report, One Stop Stores reported the most accessibility alerts (96). This quarter, One Stop Stores remains the convenience store with the most accessibility alerts, but they’ve since reduced them to 89. Common causes of accessibility alerts include missing or descriptive alt text for images, insufficient colour contrast between text and backgrounds, and improper use of headings or HTML structure. Other issues can stem from non-keyboard-friendly navigation, inaccessible forms, or multimedia without captions or transcripts.
To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Rory Tarplee.