Slow website load times cause 47% of shoppers to abandon online baskets

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Slow website load times cause 47% of shoppers to abandon online baskets.

Speed of service remains a key consideration in driving omnichannel conversions, as connected consumers expect immediacy across their shopping encounters, a new report by agile software development specialist, Black Pepper Software, reveals.

However, original research from the 'Fit for the Future; Is your business agile enough to keep up the connected consumer?', reveals that UK shoppers are still receiving slow service – both online and in-store.

55% of UK consumers cite speed of service as a key motivation for choosing to shop with a retailer again. Yet, at the same time, long queues still frustrate 60% of shoppers in-store, while slow or unreliable in-store payments processes are a problem for 18%. Similarly, slow load times on ecommerce sites were the highest cause of basket abandonment for 47%, and a further 41% of online shoppers said long-winded check out processes would also make them give up on a purchase.

Almost two thirds (63%) said a user-friendly website or an intuitive and fast app would be most likely to make them return to a retailer.

Josie Byrne, Retail Account Director at Black Pepper Software, commented: "Consumers have become used to fast and efficient retail encounters and expect every touchpoint to deliver service at speed. The agility to deliver on speed can be the difference between a sale and a lost opportunity - indeed, every extra second in website load times costs retailers a 7% reduction in conversions, presenting a £1bn cost each year*."

"Retailers need to underpin each channel with the ability to seamlessly deliver at speed. To do this, they must innovate around the connected customer, and harness the technical flexibility that agile software development practices and machine learning capabilities can provide, to quickly and efficiently create rich multichannel experiences that meet these demands," she concluded.