E-commerce expert Martin Newman is having a good few weeks.

The 44-year-old Glaswegian was recently in Australia where he was asked to be a judge of the inaugural Online Retail Industry Awards.

He has also been named alongside retail star Sir Philip Green and James Bilefield, president of digital at Condé Nast International, in the Online Fashion 100 - a list of the most influential people in the industry.

Mr Newman, the former head of e-commerce at Ted Baker, Harrods and Burberry, tells People: "I'm pretty chuffed. I don't think I've ever been on anyone's top list before."

He has been involved in, as he puts it, "multi-channel retailing" for over 25 years and now runs his own consulting business to help retailers improve their websites. Clients include River Island, The Science Museum and Oasis.

He says: "Retail has been doing ok recently but the good news for me is that the e-commerce is where the growth is. According to an e-retail resource centre, by 2018, e-commerce would have overtaken retail in terms of value of growth."

While Mr Newman, who lives in Hadley Wood, London, was in Australia, he ran a masterclass on website optimisation.