The report ranked airline Deutsche Lufthansa, UK retailer Tesco, and UK telecom company BT as the three best Web sites across the range of seven criteria, including ease of use, product and company information, online ordering and customer service.

IBM is the first US company to make it into the rankings, placed fourth.

Tesco beat out its rival for online shopping

European companies have moved up quickly in the e-commerce stakes, with 36% of companies offering some form of consumer sales online.

But Japanese companies appear to have lagged behind in web development, with only two Japanese companies -Japan Airlines and Toshiba - in the top thirty.

"It is no longer enough to have a presence on the Web. As the novelty fades, customers will revisit sites only if they receive value and service," said Professor Steve Smithson, author of the report.

Lufthansa tops the poll

The German airline Lufthansa had the top rated Website.

It was praised for "going well beyond a corporate brochure or simple promotional tool ... it provides a glimpse of the future of Web and e-commerce in action."

The site provides information about flights and airports within two clicks, and provides an online auction of available seats.

Other German companies in the top 10 were Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Telekom.

Tesco triumph

Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket chain, was praised for its Website which "provides an excellent example of how convenient and easy home shopping can be."

A wide range of goods can be purchased and paid for online for home delivery, with online customer service to sort out any problems.

The one criticism was the lack of a site map, "making it difficult to make full use of an otherwise excellent site."

Tesco was rated ahead of US retailing giant Wal-Mart, which also specialises in online shopping, and UK rival Sainsbury, which was ranked 16th.

Companies diverge

The report looked at 120 web sites, with nearly all companies drawn from the 'Fortune 500' list of tops companies around the world.

The Web experts examined the 15 biggest companies worldwide in each of eight sectors of the consumer economy, including retail, autos, media, electronics, travel, finance, pharmaceuticals and utilities.

Electronics and computer firms were rated highest for providing detailed product information, while travel companies scored best for online ordering.

The telecoms and utilities sector was top-rated for ease of use, with the report particularly impressed by BT's 'View my Bill' facility.

The Websites of pharmaceutical companies were generally the lowest-rated, with banks, perhaps surprisingly, the second-worst.

Laggards

Overall, travel, transport, media and entertainment companies are ahead of online retailers in providing e-commerce services, the analysts said.

But e-commerce activity involving automobile manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies was virtually non-existent.

The Web sites of some of the world's biggest companies were given the thumbs down by the report.

Japanese electronic giant NEC was criticised for "a poorly implemented site with inconsistent design ... little thought has been given to exploring the full potential of the Web."

Volvo's Web site was said to be "very poor in the areas of information, order and settlement."

And the Web site of French chemical and pharmaceuticals company Rhone-Poulenc is described as "needlessly complex ... a difficult site to investigate and use easily."