‘User Experience’ Among 'Biggest Drivers' of Holiday Online Sales, Akamai Strategist Says

With the holiday selling season fast approaching, retailers are “thinking through every element” of their e-commerce plans to “significantly boost sales during the busiest shopping time of the year,” Jason Miller, Akamai chief strategist-commerce, said Friday in a blog post. The quality of the “user experience” is one of the "biggest drivers" of online sales, so retailers should place “increased emphasis” to bolster several key “customer touchpoints” during the holiday rush “to ensure positive brand interactions that convert browsing into sales,” Miller said. For example, Akamai research has found that more than half of consumers expect a Web page to load in three seconds, or less, he said. “So if your page does not, shoppers will most likely use the back button and visit your competitors,” he said. “Getting content close to users and caching content to avoid round trips to origin servers will increase performance.” Said Miller: “The importance of exceptional user experience across all channels cannot be undervalued. The reason many consumers decide to research and shop online as opposed to going to a store is convenience and simplicity. If customers find that a site is not easy, they'll find another resource.” Retailers that make the e-commerce effort to “consistently delight their customers” will be well “on their way to driving impressive results this holiday season,” Miller said.