Slow websites 'push online shoppers to abandon purchases'

Over 80 per cent of shoppers leave e-commerce websites without making a purchase, a survey has discovered.

A slow website is one of the top reasons why individuals decide to leave a company's page, the study by Redshift Research and Maxymiser found.

More than two-thirds of shoppers would not return to a website if their experience was unsatisfactory, although reliable web hosting could remove the potential for a slow site.

"If customers continue to abandon their shopping baskets at this rate then it will represent a significant lost revenue opportunity for online businesses," commented managing director of Maxymiser Mark Simpson.

For more than 56 per cent of respondents, security is the most important factor when it comes to making online purchases, the findings revealed.

Rather than relying on a data centre to meet their online business needs, a growing number of companies are buying web hosting packages from specialist providers, Linda Leong, research director for internet infrastructure services at Gartner, said.

Written by Dipika Patel