The average online shopper expects a web page to render in less than three seconds, according to two new studies by Radware: State of the Union: Ecommerce Page Speed & Web Performance, Fall 2014 and 2014 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance. However, analysis of the load times of the top 100 retailers reveals that the median home page on a desktop takes 6.5 seconds to render its primary content and 11.4 seconds to fully load. For the median mobile optimized "m-dot" web page to load on the iPhone 5s, takes 4.8 seconds. Only 12% of the top 100 retail sites rendered feature content in fewer than three seconds on the desktop and 15% of full-site pages loaded in fewer than 4 seconds on the iPhone 5s.
Jump to infographic below: Cyber Monday is Coming - Do You Know How Fast Your Website Is?
See infographic: Is Your Website Fast Enough For Mobile Shoppers?
As eCommerce sales are expected to hit an all-time high of $72 billion dollars, many eRetailers will refine strategies to attract and retain customer attention. Leveraging techniques such as geo-targeted campaigns and social shopping programs that include high-quality images and video, Radware predicts that only those delivering optimized performance to enhance user experience will be the most successful.
Other key findings from Radware’s reports on the top 100 retail sites include:
- The median page is 19% larger than it was one year ago.
- 22% of sites took 10 or more seconds just to be become interactive.
- 2% took 20 seconds or longer to become interactive.
- While images comprise 50% of the average page’s total weight, 35% of sites failed to compress images, a technique that could significantly reduce payload and streamline page rendering.
Key findings from the mobile report include:
- 81% of sites automatically serve an m-dot version of the home page to smartphones.
- 20% of m-dot sites do not allow shoppers to access the full site.
- 8% of the top 100 retailers serve a tablet-optimized version of their site to tablets.
- Median load times varied across tablets, ranging from 5.7 seconds for the Galaxy Note to 8.1 seconds for the Nexus 7.
“We are seeing an increase in the usage of video and high-resolution imagery that will give the site shopper a more immersive experience. As the increase of devices with retina display continue, so will the need for sharper and more detailed imagery, both of which can decrease page load times,” warns Kent Alstead, VP of Acceleration for Radware. “As images already account for half of the average page’s total weight, conversion gains could be compromised by slow load times.”
Click on the image below to see the infographic
