The Importance of Performance for Retailers

Performance plays a crucial role in the world of e-commerce retail. Nowadays, customers visit online stores almost exclusively on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. This makes it crucial that websites work quickly and smoothly on mobile devices. And as a bonus, a fast mobile website often also means a good desktop experience. But why is performance so important?

Research by Forrester Research shows that 70% of customers indicate that loading speed influences their purchasing behavior. A slow website leads not only to frustration but thus also to lost revenue. Even the smallest delays have an impact: Google's user data shows that fractions of a second can make all the difference in visitor focus.

What does Performance mean?

Website performance indicates how well your website performs. This includes both the speed of your website and how smoothly and reliably your customers can interact with it. Consider, for example, adding a product to a shopping cart: if buttons shift while a page is still loading, this can lead to errors and user frustration. These kinds of minor issues can have major consequences for the user experience.

The metrics to measure performance are the three 'Core Web Vitals': Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). 

• LCP: measures perceived load speed. This should be under 2.5 seconds for a good user experience.
• INP: measures interactivity. This should be under 200 millisecondes. 
• CLS: measures visual stability. This score should be below 0.1 for a good user experience.

The effect of a better performance

This shows that an improvement of just 0.1 seconds in loading time leads to:

• 8,4% more transactions
• 9,2% higher average order value (AOV)
• More pageviews
• Lower bounce rate

The retail webshop visitor journey looks like this:

Source: Milliseconds Make Millions, Deloitte

The visitor arrives at the homepage, clicks through, and arrives at a product listing page. After several further actions, they finally order a product on the checkout page.

The report shows that improving page load time by just 0.1 seconds has a significant impact on conversion. See the details in the chart below.

Source: Milliseconds Make Millions, Deloitte

Interestingly, faster loading times don't always result in linear improvements. For example, conversion from the homepage to the product listing page decreased slightly. This is because visitors are more likely to click on promotional banners and be redirected to other pages. But the net result is still positive, with higher overall conversions and customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Better performance means increased revenue, higher customer satisfaction, and a lower bounce rate. Small optimizations can have a big impact. Retailers who take performance seriously stay ahead of the competition and benefit from satisfied customers who are more likely to make a purchase.

Curious about your website's performance and where the opportunities lie? Contact us. Together, we'll discover how we can optimize your online platform.