Study: Mobile web performance varies among retailers

Mobile website performance varies significantly from retailer to retailer according to a new survey conducted by Compuware's web performance unit Gomez. Among 14 mobile websites monitored by Nov. 1 and Nov. 14, Gomez reports that the average response time is 4.7 seconds, about 50 percent slower than the average response time of the same retailer's traditional Internet sites. Online retail giant Amazon.com fared best on mobile--its site loaded fastest at 2.8 seconds, with 99.86 percent homepage availability. Cable shopping network QVC followed at 2.9 seconds/99/84 percent availability. At the opposite end of the spectrum, brick-and-mortar retailer Target averaged load times of 6.9 seconds and 98.17 percent availability.

Gomez adds that in a recent consumer survey, respondents said they expect websites to load as quickly, almost as quickly or even faster on their mobile phone than their home or work computer. The same survey notes that two out of three people have encountered problems accessing mobile websites, with slow load times their chief complaint. Eighty-five percent of respondents indicated they are only willing to retry a mobile website two times or less if it does not load properly on the first visit, and 40 percent said they would likely visit a competitor's mobile site instead.

For more on the Gomez report:
- read this release
- see these results