Dangers of Increased E-Commerce Traffic

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007532

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

When your site slows down, how long before visitors click away?

More than one-half of online retail shoppers spend a major portion of their budget at peak times, such as the holiday shopping season, and based on data from Web performance monitoring firm Gomez online retailers may be letting some of that spending slip away because of poor site performance.
One-third of US online buyers surveyed reported having a poor retail site experience amid the heavy traffic of the 2009 holiday season. While some were not bothered, 15% said it was “unacceptable.” In addition, almost one-quarter of respondents had negative experiences on travel sites, 51% on financial services sites, and 65% when making online stock trades.

Many online buyers who expect convenience and ease of use when shopping on the Web will refuse to put up with poor performance. More than two-fifths of those polled said they would shop elsewhere after having just one or two bad experiences.

Tolerance was even lower among Internet users buying travel, 53% of whom would abandon a Website after a couple of poor experiences, and online stock traders (57%).
“Consumers expect retail Web sites to perform well for them, regardless of how many other shoppers are also visiting the site,” said Matt Poepsel, vice president of performance strategies at Gomez Division, in a statement.
“It’s also clear that when shoppers encounter Web performance problems, their patience and loyalty run thin,” Mr. Poepsel said. “Once a customer has left your site, chances are they are not going to give you a second chance—and few retailers can afford to lose business this way.”