E-Retail PerformanceReport One Year On:2018 EditionA report analysing the effectiveness of UK e-retailersat achieving their growth potential.Contents Foreword Methodology Brands we tested (A-Z) Summary of findings Page speed and visitor loss on 3G Social Media: the new frontier Utilising all channels Online customer experience and ease of purchase Delivery options Payment options Making the most of a captive audience Email sign-up Encouraging incremental spend ConclusionForewordGetting the basics right: are the UKs top online retailers still falling short?Its been 12 months since we compiled our first e-retail performance report and in that time the sector has continued to see huge success. Latest ONS figures show that online now accounts for almost 20% of retail sales a figure which is growing at 10 times the rate of the physical store equivalent. These figures are hardly surprising against a backdrop of net high street store closures; even industry heavyweights such as Marks an indication of consumer expectations now and in the future. Despite this, we found that page speed has worsened across the board since we compiled last years report.Almost two-thirds (62%) of retailers websites rated as poor taking longer than nine seconds to load on 3G. This was in comparison to 54% of retailers that rated as poor in 2017.A further 16% of retailer sites took 15 seconds or longer to load - an increase of 4% in 12 months. Google estimates that these e-retailers will be losing a minimum of 32% of all potential visitors through load time alone.Just 1% rated as excellent, taking under four seconds to load and expected to experience low levels of potential visitor loss. This is down from 2% of retailers that rated as excellent in 2017. These figures which relate specifically to mobile load speeds are particularly worrying in light of Googles July 2018 site speed update. The algorithm change, which now officially takes 3G mobile site speed into account for search engine rankings, only rates sites that load in under four seconds as “excellent” and penalises those that dont. Given that mobile drives 62% of all website traffic, with orders made via mobile devices growing 40% year-on-year globally, mobile speed performance is a key brand differentiator.By neglecting this aspect of site performance, the UKs top retailers are risking a significant drop in online visibility something which is of critical importance to many retailers businesses.Poor Fair Good Excellent0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%Page Loading Speeds - UKs Top E-Retailers 2018 vs 201717 18 17 18 17 18 17 18Research shows that 47% of customers will expect a site to load in less than two seconds.