• Poor performance in Q4 sees the year end on a sour note
  • Increased downtime and slower download speeds over busy Christmas period

The UK's top 50 e-tailers struggled to maintain good website performance over the busy Christmas period, finishing 2013 on a low, according to global information assurance firm NCC Group.

NCC Group's quarterly online retail report analyses the average download speed and downtime of the 50 busiest e-tail websites.

Both speed and website outages significantly deteriorated since last quarter, continuing 2013's trend of poor performance, as e-tailers failed to take advantage of the Christmas rush.

Bob Dowson, director at NCC Group's website performance division said: "The shift to online shows no signs of stopping, so there's a massive opportunity for those in the e-commerce sector. But if e-retailers are to take advantage of this, they simply must prioritise website performance. This year saw record online sales growth of almost 20% over the festive season. The relatively poor performance of the top e tailers' sites suggests that much of that growth is going either to a few top performers in that group or to competitors outside the top 50."

Average downtime of the UK's top 50 e-tailer websites was six hours and three minutes in Q4, the highest of 2013 (Q3: four hours and 32 minutes; Q2: four hours and 17 minutes; Q1: three hours and 23 minutes).

Average download speed didn't fare any better, coming in at 7.3 seconds, the slowest of the year (on a 2Mbps connection) (Q3: 6.6; Q2: 6.7; Q1: 6.2) and falling well below the 3 second target that e-tailers aim for.

Bob continued: "Customers won't think twice before abandoning their basket and going elsewhere if a website is down or takes too long to load. E-tailers should invest more in their most valuable asset because better website performance increases customer loyalty and, most importantly, boosts sales."

Q4 01/10/13 - 31/12/13
Top 50 e-tailers
Average downtime: six hours and three minutes
Average download speed: 7.3 seconds

Q3 01/07/13 - 31/09/13
Top 50 e-tailers
Average downtime: four hours and 32 minutes
Average download speed: 6.6 seconds

Q2 01/04/13 - 31/06/13
Top 50 e-tailers
Average downtime: four hours and 17 minutes
Average download speed: 6.7 seconds

Q1 01/01/13 - 31/03/13
Top 50 e-tailers
Average downtime: three hours and 23 minutes
Average download speed: 6.2 seconds

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