In the first of a regular monthly series, Keynote Systems has analysed for Internet Retailing the performance of leading music/electronic sites, grocery sites and department store sites during April. As was found in the run up to Christmas, significant variations between the players in each sector continue.
In the music/electronics sector, Play.com comes top with both the best average performance time at 1.03 seconds and 100% availabilty. At the other end of the scale, Tesco Downloads recorded an average performance of 8.95 seconds and availability of 99.54% whilst CD Jungle managed only 21.24 seconds for performance and 100% availability.
Music/Electronic sites
| Company | Average performance (s) | Availability (%) |
| Play.com | 1.03 | 100 |
| HMV Digital | 1.43 | 97.88 |
| Napster | 1.57 | 99.77 |
| Ministry of Sound | 1.87 | 100 |
| Amazon | 2.90 | 99.28 |
| CD WOW | 3.16 | 97.83 |
| HMV | 3.19 | 98.10 |
| Pixmania | 3.30 | 99.96 |
| MSN Music | 3.39 | 99.89 |
| ITunes | 5.09 | 99.73 |
| Tesco Downloads | 8.95 | 99.54 |
| CD Jungle | 21.24 | 100 |
In the grocery sector, Tesco was a clear winner with an average response time of 0.24 seconds and 100% availability. Asda came bottom with an average response of 3.42 seconds, although availability of 100% was maintained.
Grocery sites
| Company | Average performance (s) | Availability (%) |
| Tesco | 0.24 | 100 |
| Ocado | 0.85 | 98.48 |
| Iceland | 1.23 | 100 |
| Waitrose | 1.39 | 98.72 |
| Sainsburys | 2.10 | 99.73 |
| Somerfield | 2.12 | 99.96 |
| Asda | 3.42 | 100 |
In the department store sector, Selfridges narrowly beat Argos with a response time of 0.83 seconds although Argos and Debenhams Outlet were the only websites to maintain 100% availabilty.
Department store sites
| Company | Average performance (s) | Availability (%) |
| Selfridges | 0.83 | 99.74 |
| Argos | 0.84 | 100 |
| BHS | 1.03 | 99.19 |
| House of Fraser | 1.43 | 99.78 |
| John Lewis | 1.45 | 99.96 |
| Next | 1.77 | 99.56 |
| Marks & Spencer | 1.81 | 99.74 |
| Woolworths | 1.96 | 99.56 |
| Littlewoods | 2.10 | 99.96 |
| Debenhams Outlet | 2.39 | 100 |
| Boots | 2.53 | 98.94 |
