Consumers, who are now used to instant ‘scroll-and-swipe’ shopping, are becoming increasingly frustrated with slow loading websites and poor performing ecommerce platforms, says new research from BHOST.

Original research of 2,000 UK shoppers by the web hosting platform showed that frustration caused by slow site speeds is causing almost nine in ten (88%) to abandon online purchases.

Losing usability – & brand perception – to slow speed

Three quarters (76%) describe slow loading websites as ‘frustrating’, while over half (55%) of online shoppers will no longer wait more than 10 seconds for a website to load. This demonstrates both shortening consumer attention spans and just how quickly retailers can lose a sale due to site speed issues, it said.

Site speed is now as much about brand perception as usability, said Dave O’Hearns, Founder of BHOST, adding “speed is part of the user experience… if a page takes too long, visitors assume the business behind it is outdated.”

Millennials ranked as most impatient online shoppers

Millennials are the most impatient demographic, with 92% giving up on purchases if they perceive the wait to be too long. Meanwhile, two thirds (65%) say their biggest frustrations occur during slow payment and checkout pages, where delays are most likely to prompt abandoned baskets.

“Millennials expect the internet to keep up with them” as they’re “used to seamless apps and instant information,” O’Hearns added.

A separate study from Google showed that even small improvements to web performance can have a significant impact – it showed that a 0.1-second change in load time could increase conversions by an average of 8% across retail websites.