Study: Shoppers won’t wait for site-load

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“Every year RSR’s report on eCommerce site performance evaluates retailers based on their website speed and shopping experience. But we never actually asked shoppers what they think about it,” said Steve Rowen, Managing Partner, Retail Systems Research (RSR). The full report can be accessed here. “This year we surveyed over 1,000 shoppers on the topic and found that 90% of consumers will abandon a shopping session just because it is slow. And when they get frustrated by a slow site, shoppers’ actions are damaging to a retailer in every possible way: they leave, they buy from a competitor, and they likely won’t be coming back to the site.”

“The annual Retailer Website Performance Evaluation Report from Retail Systems Research has become the industry benchmark for evaluating how retail websites are engaging customers and driving online revenue,” said Rich Stendardo, CEO of Yottaa. “After two years of focusing strictly on retailers, this year’s report goes to the next level by directly adding the shopper’s expectations. The interviews RSR conducted with consumers augment its evaluation of the 80 retail sites profiled in the report and validate Yottaa’s mission to optimize digital experiences by making eCommerce sites faster and more profitable.”

Researchers looked at top retail brands including American Eagle Outfitters, Bed Bath & Beyond, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Ralph Lauren to come to their conclusions.

Why aren’t consumers willing to wait for sites to load properly?

Because digital shoppers have been trained to believe digital shopping is faster – more convenient – than driving to the local mall. More than half (53%) of these survey respondents equated slow-loading sites with wasting personal time. And, not only are they buying from competitor sites or even big-commerce sites like Amazon, about one-quarter (23%) of those who have left a slow-loading site have never returned.

Just what is slowing sites down? Third party requests are one thing. Most consumers say they want to see product reviews and ratings, but the providers offering reviews and ratings are, in many cases, slowing page load times to the point consumers are clicking away.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristina Knight-1
Kristina Knight, Journalist , BA
Content Writer & Editor
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Kristina Knight is a freelance writer with more than 15 years of experience writing on varied topics. Kristina’s focus for the past 10 years has been the small business, online marketing, and banking sectors, however, she keeps things interesting by writing about her experiences as an adoptive mom, parenting, and education issues. Kristina’s work has appeared with BizReport.com, NBC News, Soaps.com, DisasterNewsNetwork, and many more publications.