Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know
UK retailers lost an estimated £84 million in online sales in the last quarter of 2005 because of unreliable websites, according to retail analyst Verdict Consulting. The firm estimates that without action, online losses for 2006 will rise to at least £226 million.
The research, commissioned by retail outsourcing and technology specialist Xansa and global service provider Akamai, questioned 52 leading UK retailers to establish the cost to individual retailers of ineffective websites in the run up to Christmas.
It found that 17% suffered some form of website downtime, with nearly 10% of those experiencing several hours of outage. Fifteen percent of those surveyed admitted to slow site performance over the festive season, with 7% of these lasting for up to a week.
Of those surveyed, around 30% admitted that they had no backup infrastructure in place to cope with peak demands.
“Despite increasing numbers of shoppers using the online channel, retailers are failing to support and integrate this important part of the retail experience,” said Mark Collyer, market development director at Xansa.
“Whilst some retailers have addressed outdated approaches to infrastructure, website development, service management and back-office integration, others continue to plaster over the cracks and hope that the problem will go away. As an increasing number of shoppers turn to the online channel, this situation will only get worse for retailers who fail to act now," he added.
Collyer warned that ineffective websites could also hit firms by impacting on their brand image.
