Speed equals revenue in retail Digital Transformation

​53% of users abandon a mobile experience if it takes over 3 seconds to load. With online shopping, site loyalty is contingent on page speed, so speed equals revenue. Last mile performance problems, such as packet loss, are the “silent killers” of customer Quality of Experience (QoE) in eCommerce. Adverse conditions in the delivery service and cloud have a direct impact on critical business KPIs. Revenue per visitor (RPV) and average order value (AOV) can drop significantly if performance issues are not addressed.

Two fast facts that eCommerce decision​-makers are grappling with as of 2020:

• ​100 milliseconds of delay causes conversion rates to drop by 7%.
• 1 second of delay causes bounce rates to increase by 30%.

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How does the wireless last mile impact your store?

​Users blame you for a slow experience

​eCommerce businesses take the brunt of the blame for poor user experience. Of course, any number of things can occur between the eCommerce store and user's device. And without any effective cloud acceleration technologies, retailers have no control over what happens. A slow user experience may not be your fault, but it's still your problem.

​How do you combat latency?

First you need to measure the effect to proactively combat connection problems before they harm revenue.
 
All connections experience adverse network conditions, but problems are much more pronounced with cellular and WiFi connections. For example, Zycada's studies have shown that the average packet loss for a wireless connection over a 24 hour period is 2.5%. But in some cases (such as riding in a moving vehicle) it can be significantly higher. 2.5% packet loss typically translates into a 10x or greater reduction in throughput, which directly impacts the user’s QoE. And remember: Users’ visible interaction is with your store, so poor performance still reflects poorly on you.
 
A/B tests also showed that over 3 times more shoppers drop off early when not on a Zycada-accelerated experience. Recent US Census and App Annie data shows a strong correlation between quarterly online sales and time spent in shopping apps, so session length is a significant KPI to improve.
 
The Zycada Orchestration Cloud measures and mitigates latency end-to-end for each client. orchestrates your clouds, CDNs and end clients in real-time to enhance performance and security. It improves user engagement, Quality of Experience (QoE) and revenue without requiring any SDK or code changes on the client or origin. Zycada seamlessly integrates with any cloud architecture

​Speedy online stores drive QoE

The Zycada Orchestration Cloud is built from the ground up for high performance eCommerce experiences. It measures and combats last mile performance problems and dynamically optimizes content and API responses for a speedy and personalized shopping experience. It also helps e-Tailers to turn over their inventory faster. Adding Zycada to your private or multi-CDN architecture enhances every step of the user flow to improve QoE.

​Retail Digital Transformation with Zycada

With Zycada, shoppers spend more time in your store, driving up conversion rates, average order value (AOV) and revenue (RPV). By speeding up the user’s browsing and checkout process, Zycada helps reduce cart abandonment. It also provides speedy searches for higher average cart value and improves total transaction volume. With the Zycada Orchestration Cloud, eCommerce shoppers receive the best possible QoE. Ultimately this translates to more revenue for all eCommerce businesses, not only those emphasizing mobile experiences.
 
Speeding up the customer experience in online retail can boost revenue by 5-20%, through increases in revenue per visitor (RPV) and average order value (AOV). A top 5 global eCommerce brand has already gained a 5% uptick in sales from a 500ms latency reduction with Zycada.

Submitted By:

Subbu Varadarajan

Subbu Varadarajan is CEO and co-founder of Zycada, the next generation cloud orchestration and acceleration platform for eCommerce and online video. A veteran of the technology space, Subbu brings a wealth of experience having worked in senior roles at Akamai, Shape Security and Limelight Networks. He was part of the team that pioneered HTTP live streaming at Akamai, laying the technology foundation for today’s video streaming experience.