STATE OF ONLINE RETAIL PERFORMANCE - Akamai · The State of Online Retail Performance report is a...

STATE OF ONLINE RETAIL PERFORMANCE 1

STATE OF ONLINE RETAIL PERFORMANCE

2017 HOLIDAY RETROSPECTIVE


KE

Y I

NS

IGH

TS

Mobile traffic continued to grow significantly — mobile devices

accounted for more than 50% of traffic on Black Friday and increased

to 56% on Christmas Eve.

Mobile devices also experienced the highest growth in conversion rate

with a 71% increase on Black Friday and 94% increase on Cyber

Monday from 2016. By comparison, conversion rates on desktops and

tablets either remained flat or decreased for the same period.

Mobile conversion rates for the first four days of the week before

Christmas were higher than on Cyber Monday.

Bounce rates remained higher on mobile devices than desktops and

tablets, reaching up to 50%.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday were popular internationally, with

many countries outside of the U.S. experiencing significant increases

in conversion rates. And non-U.S. holidays were also recognized as

global online shopping events.

The Black Friday conversion rate on iOS was lower than on Android,

despite higher average order revenue.

Desktop is not dead — it emerged as the device of choice on Cyber

Monday. Safari bounce rates were also significantly lower on Cyber

Monday and Black Friday.


Performance in the Age of MobileEver since Internet usage from mobile and tablet devices exceeded1 desktop

in late 2016, the mobile revolution has shown no signs of slowing. With the

number of mobile phone users predicted to cross the 5 billion2 mark by 2019,

it’s no surprise that consumers have twice as many interactions3 with brands

on mobile than anywhere else.

Mobile devices not only provide a critical medium through which consumers

experience your digital business, but they also have a significant impact on

revenue and brand value. Nearly 40%4 of 2017 Black Friday revenue was

generated via mobile devices. Furthermore, smartphone revenue on Cyber

Monday grew 32.2% over 20165, reaching a new all-time high of $1.59 billion.

The latest findings from the State of Online Retail Performance support the

growing role of mobile in digital commerce. Retailers with an online strategy

that focuses on delivering superior mobile experiences will outpace the

competition by increasing market share, revenue, and brand value.

Report MethodologyThe State of Online Retail Performance report is a study of aggregated performance metrics

for leading retail sites. It is based on beacon data from Akamai mPulse customers who have

given permission for their information to be anonymized, aggregated, and used in this type

of research. A beacon is an HTTP(S) request embedded in a web page that collects data

about the user and session — from session length, to OS and browser type, to conversion

and bounce rate.

For this report, we examined 17 retailers, which accounted for more than 7 billion beacons,

over the 2017 peak holiday shopping period, and compared the results against a non-peak

month of October 2017. Then our data science team used our industry-leading analytics

engine to glean insights from the data collected.

1) http://gs.statcounter.com/press/mobile-and-tablet-internet-usage-exceeds-desktop-for-first-time-worldwide

2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/274774/forecast-of-mobile-phone-users-worldwide

3) https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-mobile-brand-content-interaction

4) https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/24/black-friday-deals-net-640m-in-sales-so-far-mobile-60-of-all-traffic

5) https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2017/11/28/report-cyber-monday-hits-new-record-at-6-6-billion-over-1-billion-more-than-2016


6) https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/technology/pages/what-hr-should-do-about-cyber-monday-shoppers.aspx

Mobile Traffic is on The RiseDuring the baseline month, mobile devices accounted for nearly 46% of the traffic to the mPulse

platform — slightly higher than desktop traffic. However, on Black Friday, mobile dominated desktop,

generating more than 50% of the traffic to the platform.

Though mobile traffic also increased on Cyber Monday compared to 2016, it was down slightly from

the 2017 baseline, with users favoring desktops that day. In fact, desktops accounted for the majority

of traffic on Cyber Monday as consumers likely used their computers at work to shop online6 during

business hours.

2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Desktop 44.62% 41.88% 49.08%

Mobile 45.63% 50.24% 43.43%

Tablet 9.75% 7.89% 7.49%

Traffic breakdown by device.

Mobile also played a pivotal role in online activity the week leading up to Christmas. As the holiday

neared, traffic from mobile exceeded desktop. On Christmas Eve, traffic distribution from mobile (56%)

surpassed that of Black Friday (50%). This finding could indicate a preference for the convenience of

shopping from mobile devices when consumers were home for holidays.

60%

55%

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 22 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec

Mobile Desktop

Traffic distribution from desktop and mobile the week before Christmas.


Mobile Conversion Growth Outpaces Other DevicesEven though desktops still have the highest conversion rates, mobile devices experienced the highest growth in conversion rates.

The trends in conversion rates remained steady, with an overall increase during the peak holiday

shopping season compared to the months preceding it. Conversion rates went up significantly across

the board for desktop, mobile, and tablet on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, compared to the baseline.


Desktop 1.48% 3.33% 2.07%

Mobile 0.79% 1.83% 1.01%

Tablet 1.31% 2.88% 1.91%

Conversion rate by device.

However, the increase in conversion rate for mobile was significantly higher than in 2016 — 71% for

Black Friday and 94% for Cyber Monday. By comparison, conversion rates for desktop and tablet either

remained flat or decreased year over year (YOY). This sharp rise in mobile conversions aligned with the

growth of smartphone revenue seen this holiday shopping season.

2016 to 2017 Black Friday - YOY % change Cyber Monday - YOY % change

Desktop +1% -11%

Mobile +71% +94%

Tablet -4% -14%

YOY conversion rate percentage change by device.

In addition, mobile conversion rates for the week before Christmas were not only significantly higher

than the baseline, but — for the first four days of the week — they exceeded Cyber Monday. The decline

in conversion rates closer to Christmas could be attributed to consumers missing the holiday shipping

window. But since conversions for the final few days leading up to Christmas were still at or above the

baseline, the data suggests that last-minute shoppers were taking advantage of opportunities to buy

online and pick up in stores — pointing to the success of omnichannel strategies.


Page Load Time Significantly Impacts Conversion RateOnline users demand digital experiences that are fast, reliable, and always available — and they

won’t wait around for them. Data shows that 53% of visits to mobile sites are abandoned if pages

take longer than 3 seconds7 to load. Our findings demonstrated the continued impact of page load

time on conversion rate.

October 2017 Peak conversion rate Page load time

Desktop 3.45% 0.9 - 1 second

Mobile 2.09% 1.3 - 1.4 seconds

Tablet 3.29% 1.1 - 1.2 seconds

Peak conversion rates observed in October 2017.

Conversion rate decreased drastically as page load time went up. For example, the data showed that

a 3-second load time cut mobile conversion rate in half to 1% and continued to decline sharply from

there. It is imperative that online retailers invest resources to ensure web and mobile pages load fast.

1.20%

1.10%

1.00%

0.90%

0.80%

0.70%

0.60%18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 22 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec

Cyber Monday Week before Christmas

Conversion Rates on Mobile Devices

Oct-17

Conversion rates on mobile devices the week before Christmas.

7) https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/articles/mobile-speed-matters


Impact of page load times on conversion rates for desktop, mobile, and tablet.

What’s your magic number?The page load time that achieves peak conversion rate is not one-size-fits-all. Every

business is unique, and every web page is different. For example, your checkout pages

might be slower because they need to verify inventory and payment, but users won’t

even make it there if the product pages they’re browsing take too long to load.

With real user monitoring, you can find the exact pages and load times that have the

most impact on customer behavior. Speed matters to a point — and that point varies

for every business — after which it’s simply a piece of the puzzle. Your users, especially

repeat customers, will be more tolerant and likely react favorably to other components

of the online experience that drive behavior, such as images, videos, and personalization.

It is important to find the right mix of richness and responsiveness to ensure your pages

are loading at the pace that’s right for your business.


Bounce Rates Remain Highest on Mobile DevicesMobile users are still more likely to bounce compared to desktop and tablet users. Bounce rate

represents the percentage of users that navigate away from a website after viewing only one page.

However, the data showed a significant drop in mobile bounce rates on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Retailers who optimized digital properties were able to keep consumers engaged and dissuade them

from going to competitors.


Desktop 36% 33% 40%

Mobile 50% 37% 40%

Tablet 41% 34% 37%

The average bounce rate by device.

There is a strong correlation between bounce rate and page load time. Bounce rate increases

significantly as the page load time goes up. In the baseline month, mobile bounce rate was lowest

(38.24%) at page load times just over 1.5 seconds. However, at a 3-second page load time, bounce

rate increased to 44.28% — up more than 6%.

October 2017 Page load time Bounce rate

Desktop 1.3 - 1.4 seconds 31.70%

Mobile 1.6 - 1.7 seconds 38.24%

Tablet 2.1 - 2.2 seconds 32.44%

Page load times corresponding to the lowest bounce rates.

Bounce rate increases significantly as the page

load time goes up.


Impact of page load times on bounce rates for desktop, mobile, and tablet.

The Peak Shopping Season is Going GlobalWith advancements in digital technology, it has become easier than ever to expand business in new

geographies to accelerate revenue growth. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become popular

shopping days around the world and the global economy has extended the peak shopping season to

include non-U.S. holidays.

For example, Singles’ Day in China is now the biggest online shopping day in the world. The 24-hour

sale on November 11 saw a record $25 billion8 in sales in 2017 — more than Black Friday and Cyber

Monday sales combined. Out of the 140,000 brands participating, more than 60,0009 were international,

and customers from at least 225 countries and regions10 took part.

Though many retailers in our data sample are based in the U.S., they receive a significant amount of

traffic from other countries. The data showed that conversion rates outside of the U.S. were not only

significantly higher on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, compared to the baseline, but were also higher

than the previous year. This finding provided evidence that retailers consider Black Friday and Cyber

Monday global shopping events, investing internationally to improve the overall customer experience

and grow revenue.

8) https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenwang/2017/11/12/alibabas-singles-day-by-the-numbers-a-record-25-billion-haul/#2cea94141db1

9) https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahweinswig/2017/11/02/singles-day-2017-preview/#6d1fa3d340a5

10) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-12/alibaba-singles-day-goes-global-with-record-25-billion-in-sales



U.K. 0.99% 2.38% 1.42%

Germany 1.51% 2.91% 1.59%

France 0.99% 2.41% 1.22%

Japan 0.80% 1.38% 0.78%

Overall conversion rates for countries outside the U.S.

2016 to 2017 Black Friday - YOY % change Cyber Monday - YOY % change

U.K. +42% +35%

Germany +31% +34%

France +26% +26%

Japan +23% +18%

Increase in conversion rates for countries outside the U.S.

Closing out the peak holiday shopping season is Boxing Day on December 26, popular in the U.K. and

other Commonwealth countries. Traffic to brick-and-mortar stores in the U.K. decreased 4.5% YOY11, but

there was a surge in online traffic on Boxing Day. mPulse platform traffic more than doubled compared

to average traffic in the baseline month, and U.K. traffic was 21% higher than Black Friday, and 83%

higher than Cyber Monday. The conversion rate in the U.K. was not only significantly greater on Boxing

Day compared to the baseline, but it was also more than the previous year. This data indicated that U.S.-

based retailers created engaging experiences to capitalize on non-U.S. shopping events.

U.K. traffic was 21% higher than Black Friday, and 83% higher than Cyber Monday.

11) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/26/boxing-day-sales-bargain-hunters-out-in-force-across-uk


2017 Boxing Day % change compared to baseline

U.S. 1.21% +30%

U.K. 1.37% +38%

Overall conversion rates for Boxing Day.

Another indication of investment in global properties is the drop in bounce rates outside of the U.S. on

Black Friday and Cyber Monday.


U.K. 36.2% 28.6% 30.5%

Germany 29.1% 23.4% 27.0%

France 26.9% 20.1% 24.7%

Japan 33.5% 31.2% 32.0%

Bounce rates for countries outside the U.S.

Online Shopping Performance Changes by PlatformOnline experiences and behaviors vary across platforms — from operating systems to browsers. It is

important for retailers to understand these differences when optimizing performance, as platform-

specific improvements can impact the bottom line.

Operating systems


Android 30% 31% 26%

iOS 70% 69% 74%

Comparison of Android and iOS traffic.

Not only does iOS traffic exceed that of Android on the retailers studied, but iPhone users have been

found to spend more online than Android users — almost three times more.12 Though the average order

revenue13 was higher on iOS devices this holiday season, Android had a better overall conversion rate on

Black Friday.

12) https://moz.com/blog/apple-vs-android-aov

13) https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2017/11/28/report-cyber-monday-hits-new-record-at-6-6-billion-over-1-billion-more-than-2016



Android 1.08% 2.41% 1.48%

iOS 1.10% 2.11% 1.57%

Comparison of Android and iOS conversion rates.

iOS conversion rate remained lower than Android on Black Friday, even with a decrease in bounce rate

on iOS compared to the baseline.


Android 43% 38% 43%

iOS 51% 37% 39%

Bounce rates on Android and iOS devices.

The week before Christmas, the traffic on iOS devices was 118% more than Android, but the conversion

rates on iOS and Android devices were comparable. In fact, Android exceeded its conversion rate from

Cyber Monday for the first half of that week.

1.70%

1.60%

1.50%

1.40%

1.30%

1.20%

1.10%

1.00%

0.90%


Android – Conversion Rates


Con

vers

ion

Rat

e

Conversion rates on mobile devices the week before Christmas.


1.70%

1.60%

1.50%

1.40%

1.30%

1.20%

1.10%

1.00%

0.90%


iOS – Conversion Rates


Con

vers

ion

Rat

e

Conversion rates on iOS devices the week before Christmas.

Even though more consumers shop on iOS, will Android start to close this gap by expanding its

conversion rate performance edge in the year to come?

BrowsersExamining data from the top browsers, ranked based on the traffic they receive, performance differences

between the platforms emerged once again. For example, there was a significant increase in conversion

rates on Safari and a significant decrease in bounce rates on mobile Safari and Safari on Black Friday and

Cyber Monday. This finding showed that consumers not only engaged online on their iPhones and iPads,

but also on their Macs.


Mobile Safari 0.97% 1.99% 1.52%

Chrome 1.41% 3.24% 1.94%

Chrome Mobile 0.86% 1.86% 0.85%

Safari 1.83% 3.59% 2.53%

Conversion rates for the top browsers.



Mobile Safari 50.4% 36.2% 38.2%

Chrome 36.5% 34.8% 43.1%

Chrome Mobile 43.2% 37.5% 43.3%

Safari 52.3% 38.6% 43.7%

Bounce rates for the top browsers.

TakeawaysMobile is the fastest-expanding way to transact online, with traffic and conversion rate growth outpacing

other online devices. As mobile adoption continues to rise rapidly, delivering superior digital experiences

on mobile devices is a requirement.

Now that more than half14 of the population worldwide has access to the Internet, retailers are

capitalizing on opportunities to expand their businesses outside of established markets. This holiday

shopping season, retailers benefited by delivering superior experiences worldwide and acknowledging

that the peak shopping season extends beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday in our global economy.

Understanding online performance and how experiences — by device, location, and platform — affect

user behavior will shape the success of your digital business. Only brands that adapt quickly to global

expansion and mobile adoption can survive.

Understanding online performance and how experiences — by device, location, and platform — affect user behavior will shape the success of your digital business.

14) https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/


Continuously Manage Online Performance With AkamaiTrusted by 46 of the top 50 retailers in U.S. and Canada, Akamai provides the world’s largest and most

trusted cloud delivery platform. With a complete digital performance management offering, Akamai

delivers real user insight to identify and prioritize where to take action, integrated tools to optimize

performance, and scalable testing to simulate realistic scenarios for the confidence that your applications

will meet user expectations.

Akamai enables you to deliver superior digital experiences by:

• Monitoring how real users interact with your online applications

• Optimizing performance to drive the most revenue impact

• Validating that improvements produced the desired outcomes

Akamai’s cloud delivery platform helps you get closer to and more available for every user interaction to

achieve a more seamless user experience, wherever they are across the globe. Find out how Akamai can

help you maximize online revenue at [email protected].

As the world’s largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, Akamai makes it easier for its customers to provide the best and most secure digital

experiences on any device, anytime, anywhere. Akamai’s massively distributed platform is unparalleled in scale with more than 200,000 servers across

130 countries, giving customers superior performance and threat protection. Akamai’s portfolio of web and mobile performance, cloud security,

enterprise access, and video delivery solutions are supported by exceptional customer service and 24/7 monitoring. To learn why the top financial

institutions, online retail leaders, media and entertainment providers, and government organizations trust Akamai please visit www.akamai.com,

blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter. You can find our global contact information at www.akamai.com/locations. Published 04/18.

STATE OF ONLINE RETAIL PERFORMANCE - Akamai · The State of Online Retail Performance report is a...

Documents

Transcript of STATE OF ONLINE RETAIL PERFORMANCE - Akamai · The State of Online Retail Performance report is a...