New Threshold for eCommerce Web Page Response Times

Akamai Technologies released key findings last month from a commissioned study (www.akamai.com/2seconds) conducted by Forrester examining eCommerce web site performance and its impact on an online shopper’s behavior. From a very high-level, the biggest take away is that two seconds is the new threshold in terms of an average online shopper’s expectation for a web page to load and 40% of shoppers will wait no more than three seconds before abandoning a retail or travel site.

Forrester concluded the following key findings:

  • 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in two seconds or less (4 second expectation from 2006 study)
  • 40% of consumers will wait no more than three seconds for a web page to render before abandoning the site
  • 52% percent of online shoppers stated that quick page loading is important to their site loyalty (up 12 percent from the 2006 study)
  • If pages take too long to load, 14% will begin shopping at another site, and 23% will stop shopping or walk away from their computer
  • 79% of online shoppers who experience a dissatisfying visit are less likely to buy from that site again
  • 64% would simply purchase from another online store (up 16 percent from the 2006 study)
  • While only 16% of consumers have shopped via mobile or smart-phones, consumers are interested in using these devices for research and shopping activities in the future
  • One third of consumers report wanting to shop via their smart-phones in the future

To read more highlights on the research findings, please visit: https://www.akamai.com/html/about/press/releases/2009/press_091409.html

To read and download a free copy of the full study, please visit www.akamai.com/2seconds.

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