As Shop Direct, operator of Very.co.uk and Littlewoods, sees half of its sales now coming from mobile, research by Google finds that retail mobile sites are among the slowest on the web.
According to the Google research, retail sites have, on average, the slowest mobile sites of the 11 industries measured – chugging in at10.290s. 53% of visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes three seconds or more to load and, if you keep mobile users waiting just 1s to 5s, the probability of them bouncing spikes by 90%. Add just another second, and that figures rises to 106%.
With one in three online purchases happens on mobile, that means many sales are being lost needlessly, says Google.
Raja Saggi, Head of SMB Marketing, Google UK and IE, says: “As one of the most mature ecommerce markets, the fact that the UK lags in terms of mobile speeds is a serious issue for brands, advertisers and publishers alike. As most consumers are ready to abandon a site that takes over three seconds to load, the average UK speed of 8.9 seconds is a sure way to lose potential revenue. Almost a third of online shopping takes place over mobile, and we can only expect that to increase, so it’s important to address this as soon as possible. Optimising your site for mobile and addressing these speed issues can be relatively simple, and a crucial step for businesses looking to provide a good online experience.”
