Figures show that online sales are continuing to grow annually; according to the Office of National Statistics, average weekly online sales increased by 36.6% year-on-year to £660 million a week in November 2010 and during the same period, web business accounted for 10.5% of all sales in the UK retail sector. At the same time however, consumers are becoming less patient with web pages that take more than a few seconds to load. Extensive research into consumer behaviour shows that if customers perceive a website to be too slow, they are likely to switch to a competitor’s website to make their purchase, resulting in lost revenue and lost customers for the original retailer.
With all of that in mind, ecommerce represents a significant revenue stream for most retailers in 2011, provided that their websites are up to the task. Internet Retailing asked Graham parsons why performance is the key to a website’s success.
Friday, 28 January 2011
Monday, 17 January 2011
Graham Parsons talks to Management Today: how to make sure your ecommerce site isn't leaking revenue
Online sales scaled dizzy new heights over the recent holiday season, thanks to the annual pre-Christmas shopping frenzy, snow hampering high street footfall and a record number of consumers trawling the net for sale bargains as early as Christmas Eve (and even on Christmas Day). John Lewis alone announced total sales of over £500m for the five week period leading up to January 1, representing a 42% increase compared with the same period in 2009. It seems realistic to say that the most successful retailers, regardless of size, are those tapping into this ever-increasing online consumerism trend.
Yet with consumers growing ever more impatient - as highlighted by extensive research suggesting that online shoppers are only prepared to wait a few seconds for website pages to display - it is not enough to merely have an e-commerce channel. It is critical that retailers’ e-stores are able to perform optimally and deliver a positive customer experience, even when hundreds, if not thousands, of customers are using the site simultaneously. Getting it wrong can result in the loss of substantial amounts of revenue to competitor sites that are better prepared for peak traffic periods.
Management Today asked Graham Parsons of Reflective Solutions, the company behind application performance testing tool StressTester™, for his top ten tips on how e-tailers can ensure their website doesn’t leak revenue to competitors. See Graham's response here:http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1049584/
Yet with consumers growing ever more impatient - as highlighted by extensive research suggesting that online shoppers are only prepared to wait a few seconds for website pages to display - it is not enough to merely have an e-commerce channel. It is critical that retailers’ e-stores are able to perform optimally and deliver a positive customer experience, even when hundreds, if not thousands, of customers are using the site simultaneously. Getting it wrong can result in the loss of substantial amounts of revenue to competitor sites that are better prepared for peak traffic periods.
Management Today asked Graham Parsons of Reflective Solutions, the company behind application performance testing tool StressTester™, for his top ten tips on how e-tailers can ensure their website doesn’t leak revenue to competitors. See Graham's response here:http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1049584/
Monday, 10 January 2011
Website Failure Snow Joke for National Rail.....
Graham Parsons comments on the failure of nationalrail.co.uk - have they lost customers as a result?
It's more important than ever that stakeholders in public-facing web and cloud applications realise that there is no second chance. Effective testing under realistic load is not optional but essential.
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