Third of top electronic retailer websites underperforming

Website performance measuring company, Keynote Systems Inc., has released the findings of a new survey that shows which electronic retailer websites provide the best overall online experience.

by Helen Leggatt

Amazon and Best Buy came out on top, overall, out of twelve leading online electronics retailers including Circuit City Stores Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Dell Inc.

Amazon came first in search satisfaction and among the top performers in six of nine other categories, including price satisfaction, product research and overall site navigation.

Best Buy topped the rankings in seven different categories including “ease of purchasing process” and customer support.

With the holiday season on the horizon it was surprising to find that four out of the twelve websites surveyed suffered from problems with performance and, said Keynote, “were not able, even in this relatively calm period, to handle load without degrading significantly”. Two of the surveyed sites experienced over 20 hours of outages, greatly affecting the user experience.

Circuit City and Staples provided the best website performance, according to the report. Circuit City was the most reliable and experienced little or no downtime, and Staples was the fastest and most responsive.