User Friction & Site Performance Blog | Blue Triangle

Thanksgiving through Black Friday 2015 Web Performance Analysis

Written by Josh Carter | Nov 30, 2015 6:15:38 PM

Online retail spending on Thanksgiving increased by 25% from last year, and Black Friday eCommerce sales were up 14% from 2014. Together, online sales reached a record $4.45 billion, and over half of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers went online to make purchases. It goes without saying that online retailers must perform well to support both heavy traffic flow and shopper retention. 

Blue Triangle continually monitors the Top US Internet Retailers to deliver industry-leading analysis on web performance. Below is our analysis of Thanksgiving Day through Black Friday.

Methodology

  • Dates: 11/26-11/27 (Thanksgiving – Black Friday)
  • Internet Retailers Measured: 1,000
  • Sites Measured: 2,120
  • Measurements: Multi-Hour from various US locations
  • Time Zone: EST
  • Reported Metric: Geometric Mean
  • Industries are based on Internet Retailer's US Top 1000 List (2015)

Performance Overview

  • Page Speed peaked at 3.70 seconds: 10am Friday
  • Page Speed was lowest at 2.90 seconds: 3pm Thursday
  • Page Speed increased by 21% between 4pm on Thursday and 10am Friday

Industry Overview

  • Apparel/Accessories had the slowest average page speed: 3.66 seconds
  • Flowers/Gifts had the fastest average page speed: 2.85 seconds

Performance Matters

Performance directly impacts user experience and revenue. Here at Blue Triangle, we quantify where and how much page speed impacts online retailers. In fact, we've discovered over $300 million in revenue opportunity from performance improvements just this year.