According to a list compiled by Newsweek magazine and global data research firm Statista, REI and Academy’s e-commerce sites are among the best places to shop online for sports and outdoor goods.

The Best Online Shops 2021 list recognises 1000 top shops across 39 categories within eight industries, ranging from Sport Outdoor & Motor to Home Living. Topping the sports products segment were Academy, Puma, Adidas, Puma, Dick’s, Nike and Lululemon. The top online shops within the outdoor industry were those for REI, NRS (Northwest River Supplies), Merrell, Duluth Trading, Mountain Hardware and Icebreaker.

Compiling the list began with a shop of more than 9,500 online stores, using Statista and online databases, online directories and price comparison websites to identify relevant online shops. They were then tested by 41 objective criteria and 10 subjective criteria on 7 dimensions: structure and usability, trust and security, service and communication, payment, purchase and delivery, technical performance and likelihood of purchase. Also, more than 8,000 American online shoppers were asked to assess the visual appearance of the online shops on ten subjective criteria, such as how clear and navigable the homepage of a site was.

Finally, after the test phase was over, a sub-score for each dimension was calculated, which was ultimately converted to a score out of 10 for each online shop.

"The pandemic has driven millions of us out of stores and onto the web. Some estimates say online shopping grew more than 75 percent in June 2020 compared to the previous year, and only a bit less in July, and online spending was already projected to reach $5 trillion in 2021," according to the article in Newsweek introducing the list. 

"But while our method of shopping may have changed, we haven't stopped being careful consumers. We still want to compare prices and read reviews, and we're also asking for seamless ordering across platforms; clear, well-designed websites; and responsive customer service."

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