A study published this month suggests that online shoppers are as demanding as ever when it comes to choosing their favourite online shopping website.
The research commissioned by JupiterResearch was conducted by Akami Technologies Inc. to determine what consumers feel about the overall online shopping experience. It made for interesting reading…
The overriding consensus amongst those interviewed (a total of 1,058 during the first six months of 2006) cited that a poorly performing website was enough to ensure that the offending website would be avoided indefinitely. A staggering 75 per cent of those asked, admitted that they would not revisit a website that took longer than four seconds to load. Two obvious factors: high shipping costs and high prices were the only negative aspects that scored higher on the list.
Another interesting fact that emerged from this study were the thoughts of mature shoppers - classified as people who regularly shopped online and had done so for more than two years or who spent in excess of £788. Half of these old-hands stated that for them, the amount of time it took to load a page was their main priority. This may seem an obvious prerequisite but if your website falls short and can't deliver this sort of service, then you may lose customers and fast. Those interviewed said that not only would they not return to the website but they would deter friends and family from doing so too.
More online shopping statistics
There has been much research in this area of the Internet (see below for Net.Matters related articles) but these figures suggest that surfers are no longer prepared to wait as in previous years. On a global basis, Internet users are more discerning and more demanding.
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46 per cent of online shoppers demand a fast and slick checkout process |
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65 per cent will return to a site that offers ease of navigation (registration, log-in and checkout functionality) |
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30 per cent of online shoppers will look unfavourably at the company providing the ecommerce facility if it performs badly |
Remember that a poorly perceived website influences customers to the extent that their whole opinion of the company providing the shopping service is severely damaged. As states Brad Rinklin, the vice president of marketing at Akamai “The critical takeaway from this research is that online shoppers not only demand quality site performance, they expect it.” He continues, “Four seconds is the new benchmark by which a retail site will be judged, which leaves little room for error for retailers to maintain a loyal online customer base. Site performance becomes even more critical as retailers add more dynamic content and applications to their site.”
So what should you consider when assessing your website?
Look at the following questions and try to take an impartial stance regarding your own website:
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How long does it take to load? |
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Is it hard for customers to navigate? |
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Is the checkout process too lengthy? |
With the market of online shoppers destined to grow as broadband finds its way into more homes, shouldn't you be looking to profit from the increase not suffer?
Net.Matters related articles:
Online-shopping-continues-to-soar
One-blink-and-you-ve-missed-it
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