How Did Top Retailers' Web and Mobile Sites Perform for Users on Cyber Monday?
Compuware Announces Top Performers – Why They Succeeded and Others Struggled
DETROIT--December 1, 2011--Compuware Corporation
(Nasdaq: CPWR), the technology performance company, today announced the top retail
Web and mobile site performers for Cyber Monday based on the
Compuware Performance Index. Compuware's analysis also found that, despite
months of preparation by retailers, performance satisfaction for the top 50 retailers
was down more than 12 percent on Cyber Monday from non-holiday baseline levels.
Compuware conducted an in-depth assessment of Web and mobile site performance data
for top U.S. online retailers using a combination of
Compuware Performance Index data, which measures performance using
Gomez Last Mile and dynaTrace
technology to analyze transactions, to determine why some retailers performed well
and others did not. Compuware revealed that the top Web and mobile site performers
for Cyber Monday included:
Top Websites: (out of 50 participants*)
- JC Penney
- Apple
- Symantec
- Dell
- Abercrombie and Fitch Co.
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Macy's
- Best Buy
- L.L. Bean
- Overstock
|
Top Websites: (out of 50 participants*)
- Sears
- Amazon
- Dell
|
"The top Cyber Monday retail Web and mobile performers understand this simple equation:
faster sites equal more sales," said John Van Siclen, General Manager of Compuware's
Application Performance Management (APM) Business Unit. "These retailers invested
in the people, technology and best practices to deliver top Web and mobile performance
on Cyber Monday, which is far more demanding than any other time of the year. Top
performers made the most of this year's increased online and mobile holiday traffic."
Compuware's data clearly underscores that many e-commerce sites are still not able
to meet scalability demands that big days like Cyber Monday present. Many retailers'
websites failed to meet the performance satisfaction demands of shoppers who expect
web pages to download in two seconds or less. Many retailers had web page load times
of 10 seconds or more. Seconds of delay can mean millions of dollars in potential
revenue lost.
Based on deep forensic analysis of the top 50 eCommerce sites on Cyber Monday using
dynaTrace software, the top performers followed best practices in order to maintain
optimal performance:
- Light on third-party content;
- Pages not overloaded with hundreds of images or CSS files;
- Lightweight JavaScript; and
- Static images hosted on separate cache-domain served with Cache-Control Headers
to speed up page load time for subsequent visits.
In contrast, many of the poorly performing sites had the following issues impacting
performance:
- Overloaded pages with too much content, which is cumbersome to serve;
- Heavy use of third-party plugins like ad services, social networks or user
tracking;
- Too many single-resource domains (mainly due to third-party plugins)
with high DNS and Connect Time;
- Heavy JavaScript executions in web pages (instead of pop-ups); and
- Multiple redirects bringing shoppers slowly to their final desired URL.
Compuware will publish a complete Web and mobile performance results report for
Black Friday through Cyber Monday, including the best practices that retailers should
follow to maximize performance for the remainder of the holiday season. For a preview
of the report's content,
click here.
* Fifty retailers in website study: 1800Flowers, Abercrombie and Fitch Co., Amazon,
American Eagle, Amway, Apple, Avon, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Blockbuster, Buy,
Cabelas, CDW, Costco, Crate and Barrel, Dell, Drugstore.com, Footlocker, Gap, Home
Depot, HP Shopping, HSN, J. Crew, JCPenney, Kohl’s, L.L. Bean, Macy’s, Musicians
Friend, Neiman Marcus, Newegg, Nordstrom, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Overstock, PC
Mall Inc., PC Connection, QVC, Saks Fifth Avenue, Scholastic, Sears, Staples, Symantec,
Target, ToysRUs, Urban Outfitters, Victoria’s Secret, Vistaprint, Walmart, Wayfair,
Williams-Sonoma.
**Ten retailers in mobile site study: Amazon, Best Buy, Dell, Macy’s, Office Depot,
OfficeMax, Sears, Staples, Victoria’s Secret, Walmart.
Compuware Corporation
Compuware Corporation, the technology performance company, provides software, experts
and best practices to ensure technology works well and delivers value. Compuware
solutions make the world's most important technologies perform at their best for
leading organizations worldwide, including 46 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies
and 12 of the top 20 most visited U.S. websites. Learn more at:
http://www.compuware.com.
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Press Contact
Jackie Volovich, Warner Communications,
978-526-1960
Lisa Robinson Schoeller, dynaTrace
software, A Division of Compuware, 781-768-4907
For Sales and Marketing Information
Compuware Corporation, One Campus Martius, Detroit, MI 48226, 800-521-9353,
http://www.compuware.com