Tax issues aside, Amazon is still our favourite online shop

Amazon paid just £9.7m in corporation tax in the UK last year (Getty Images)

Amazon might not pay much in tax to the UK Treasury, but that has not stopped the British public from voting it the best online store.

The retail analyst Conlumino noted “slight surprise” at Amazon’s success following criticism “in some quarters for its tax arrangements”.

But it added that “this has had little tangible impact on consumer perceptions of it as a retailer”, at least among the 6,000 people it polled.

In May, Margaret Hodge, the MP who chairs the Commons Public Accounts Committee, slammed Amazon for paying just £9.7m in corporation tax in the UK last year despite revenues of £4.7bn. “It’s not on,” she said. “To their customer base, they pretend to be British, yet they refuse to pay their tax. All we ask is that they pay a fair tax on their business in the UK.”

Conlumino’s managing director, Neil Saunders, said the survey’s findings demonstrated that “above all else, retail is about understanding shoppers and providing them with what they want”.

“Amazon has been instrumental in changing the way we shop and over the past 16 years it has continually refined the service it offers shoppers,” he said. “This customer focus is one of the reasons it is the largest internet retailer in the UK and it’s also why it tops our poll for online shops.”

John Lewis was voted the UK’s favourite retailer with its stable-mate Waitrose as favourite food retailer.