Retail Systems Research Ecommerce Report on Retailer Website Performance Ranks 80 Top Online Brands

Yottaa, Inc., the leading Cloud platform for accelerating eCommerce, today announced the publication of a new research report titled, “2021 Retailer Website Performance Evaluation: Lost Revenue Opportunities Continue.” The research, which is now in its 5^th year of publication, was conducted by Retail Systems Research (RSR) and evaluates 80 major retail websites on site speed performance and shopper experience. The report also includes survey results from over 1,000 consumers to provide their perspective on eCommerce site performance.

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“2021 Retailer Website Performance Evaluation: Lost Revenue Opportunities Continue.”

RSR is a leading industry market intelligence firm that helps retailers make more strategic decisions about the role of information technology in their enterprise. In keeping with the methodology used in its previous reports on this topic, RSR assembled a list of 80 top retail sites, all with a strong eCommerce presence, and then evaluated these brands’ website performance across multiple criteria. In addition, RSR also surveyed more than 1,000 US-based consumers ages 18 and up, gathering their perspective on how online retailers are doing in terms of site performance and online experience. This data appears throughout the report, providing first-hand context for what shoppers deem most important, as well as their behaviors for when things go awry.

Below are some of the brand rankings from the report, as well as key findings that illustrate the site performance and experience challenges that many eCommerce sites face today.

Top 3 Overall Rankings

Based on criteria for both site speed and shopper experience where a full range of 0-3 points was available across 22 different categories, the following retailers took top honors (all scores are of 65 possible points):

1. J. Crew – 54 points
2. Lands’ End – 50 points
2. Fashion Nova – 50 Points
2. Ascena Retail Group (LOFT) – 50 Points
2. Express – 50 Points
3. Ralph Lauren – 49 points
3. 1 800 Contacts – 49 points

Top 5 Fastest Loading Retail Sites

1. 1 800 Contacts
2. Groupon Goods
3. Brownells
4. Forever 21
5. Lands’ End

Key eCommerce Trends

• Fast site speed is critical to growing online revenue. Improving page load time by just 1 second results in a 5.7% conversion lift on mobile and a 3.3 conversion lift on desktop

• eCommerce sessions that take less than four seconds capture 59% of conversions, while sessions that trail four seconds deliver a near-identical 58% of bounces

• Some brands are getting site performance right. Others are making some slow progress. However, many brands are way behind in this regard.

• Retailers are paying more attention to site design – both on mobile AND desktop

• Many retailers aren’t adequately addressing poor online shopper experience

Key Consumer Survey Responses

• 76% of consumers do not start their shopping journey on a brand’s website but rather on Google or Amazon

• 92% of online shoppers are frustrated with slow loading retail websites

• 87% of shoppers will not wait for a slow site to load and they want sites to load in under 4 seconds

• If a site takes too long to load 53% of shoppers say they leave and buy from a similar brand and 39% leave and buy from Amazon

• 67% of consumers shop via social media

“While we are now in our 5^th year of conducting this research, we believe this year’s report card is more important than ever,” said Steve Rowen, Managing Partner, Retail Systems Research (RSR). “Why? Not only is there still an on-going global pandemic, but many shoppers will not return to in-store shopping, shipping and delivery efforts are in shambles, and the global supply chain has become completely unhinged. As chaotic as the retail landscape has become, there are still vital online shopping elements that brands have total control over, such as their digital shopping journey and site performance. This report highlights the immediate need for brands to make the online shopping journey as effortless as possible from site speed to the ease of product discovery, to the checkout process and payment options – all in a perpetually scalable way.”