Retailers losing over £5bn potential sales

UK retailers could be losing £5.65bn a year if their website frustrates online shoppers because it is too slow.

According to an online survey of more than 2,000 online shoppers, an average of 5.5 online purchases are abandoned before completion.

A massive 82% of consumers said that if a website performed badly it would dissuade them from buying goods from that organisation on the web or in store.

The research was commissioned by web hosting company Hostway and web acceleration software supplier Zeus Technology, and carried out by independent research company TNS.

"Online traffic will continue to grow, so it is important that retailers ensure that websites are scalable enough to cope with large visitor numbers and large amounts of multimedia content," said Graham Moore, e-retail specialist at Zeus Technology.