Despite some highly-publicized failures, the leading
online shopping Web sites
serviced holiday shoppers with performance and availability rates better than
the industry-average business Web site, according to a study by Keynote Systems.
On Dec. 17, for example, Amazon.com delivered its home page in an average of
4.9 seconds with an availability rate of 99.4 percent compared to an industry
average of
9.2 seconds and 97.5 percent. The study was based on over 800,000
measurements.
Sites studied included Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Dell, Gateway, Lands’ End,
Virtual Vineyards and the industry-standard Keynote Business 40 Index. The
results of the study, including several performance graphs and availability
tables from the week of December 14, are available here.
Performance and availability rates from Dec. 17 are:
- Amazon.com – 4.9 seconds, 99.4%
- Barnes & Noble – 7.3 seconds, 99.2%
- Dell – 8.3 seconds, 99.1%
- Gateway – 6.4 seconds, 86.7%
- Lands’ End – 9.0 seconds, 91.5%
- Virtual Vineyards – 4.9 seconds, 96.7%
- Keynote Business 40 Index – 9.2 seconds, 97.5%
“With e-commerce on the Web, performance and availability are crucial factors
in retaining and satisfying online customers,” said Umang Gupta, chairman and
CEO of Keynote Systems. “This study as well as our Web Brokerage Index and
Keynote Business 40 Index scientifically measure and report these quality of
service factors to the public for the most important e-commerce activities on
the Internet today.”
Keynote Systems uses its Keynote Perspective Full Page Component service to
measure how long it takes to access and download Web pages and their
components via the Microsoft and Netscape browsers. The measurements are
performed every 15 minutes around the clock from each of Keynote’s 65
automated measurement locations around the world.
Availability rates reflect all failures to download a Web page or any of its
components because of web-server or Internet errors.
Keynote Systems offers a free one-week comparative performance appraisal
against either the Keynote Web Brokerage Index or the Keynote Business 40
Index, with its Keynote Perspective service, to any company that develops or
operates a business web site. Check it out here.
The Keynote Business 40 Internet Performance Index is an industry-standard
metric of the overall health and performance of the Internet that is published
weekly in The Industry Standard and other business and trade publications. The
Index comprises 40
important web sites in six categories: publishing, search engines and
directories, business services, financial services, high technology and
communications.
