UK Press Room: 2008

Tesco checks out top for online customer experience in Keynote Systems UK grocery study

But with site reliability a major concern, Tesco still has some work to do

LONDON, ENGLAND, — 16th April 2008 – Keynote Competitive Research, the industry analysis group of Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN) today announced the results of its ‘Customer Experience Rankings for UK Groceries websites’.

The study aimed to identify the grocery sites that generated the strongest positive impact on three indices, ‘Brand impact, ‘Customer Acquisition impact’ and ‘Customer satisfaction’. The five sites that were evaluated included Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Ocado, Asda and Waitrose, with monitoring taking place between January-February 2008*. The study also monitored each site’s technical performance comprising metrics of performance and reliability. This allows for a full breakdown, not only on how the site performed generally, but also the all important end-user experience and perception.

Using its WebEffective® product, Keynote was able to gain a deeper insight into the exact reasons why users visit these sites, as well as conduct an in-depth customer experience study over the internet. Tesco topped the overall customer experience index (made up of the three indices stated above), with Ocado following closely behind. The overall customer experience ranking on both of these sites is high, but when broken down into the individual indices, WebEffective allows for comprehensive drill down into the reasons behind user satisfaction, and shows areas that still need improvement.

Brand Impact

The brand impact index is comprised of various aspects including the impression of the company based on its site, self-reported change in impression of company from using the site and the perceived accuracy of the site in reflecting company image. In this part of the study, Ocado came out on top followed by Sainsbury’s.

However, when these brand objectives were broken down even further to fully analyse the end-user’s perception of each of the grocery websites, things quickly changed. When asked which sites were associated with the word ‘comprehensive’, Tesco scored very highly followed by Sainsbury’s. When asked which of the sites they associated with the word ‘customer-focused’, consumers scored Asda’s site as most customer focused, followed by Tesco.

Customer Acquisition Impact

The study also revealed customers’ thoughts on the usability aspects of each site. The ‘Home page’ part of the study revealed that Waitrose was considered the best laid out/designed homepage followed by Sainsbury’s. Waitrose also topped the charts for the amount of information held on the home page. The Customer Acquisition Impact Score is a statistical combination of several metrics in the study including 'Likelihood to return as a result of their satisfaction with the updating of a trolley', 'Booking a delivery', 'Searching and adding goods to the trolley', and additional questions concerning the online shopping/purchasing process.

Customer Satisfaction

Despite its apparent dominance, the ‘Customer satisfaction’ index showed that Tesco is not considered top in customer service. This part of the study comprised 99 metrics including overall satisfaction, overall site organisation, options to resolve satisfaction, frustration overall and look and feel appeal. Such a comprehensive study allows for a unique view into the customer’s opinion of each site. Sainsbury’s came out on top in this section, closely followed by Ocado, but as this is such an important aspect of the industry this is an area that all of the sites involved need to continuously adapt and improve.

Technical Performance

Web site performance monitoring is an additional portion of the study that examines the site reliability and site responsiveness of the selected grocery Web sites over the course of the study period. The complete study includes over 3,000 data points, enabling insight into the root causes of these challenges. The unique data and insights uncovered by Keynote Competitive Research (KCR) are acquired through the use of the company’s commercially available Web performance test and measurement products. Tesco’s rating in this part of the study relates to its poor showing with the reliability.  It finished bottom of this ranking someway behind Waitrose who finished first with perfect (100%) availability during the study period.  Its performance level in terms of responsiveness is the real pointer as to why Tesco came out on top, with an average page download of under 1s compared to an industry average of 4s.

Generally Tesco performed well and consumers obviously like the comprehensive, consumer-focused layout of the site. It did not have to perform spectacularly to end up on top of the study rankings, but generally finished second in a lot of the areas studied. Its main fault lay in reliability.

“These results really give us a great impression of how each of these sites is used and perceived by end-users,” said Martin Stern, regional manager, EMEA at Keynote Systems. “The amount of detail that WebEffective gives us can prove an invaluable source of knowledge for companies looking to improve or change their sites. The results really go a long way to prove this, each of the individual parts of the study had its own winner, and despite Tesco winning overall, this is not to say that it dominated. Indeed, in an age where competition is so great for online shopping, e-tailers must ensure that not only do their sites look good, but crucially, perform well. Consumers will go to a better performing competitor if they have problems accessing the site no matter how comprehensive the layout.”

“As the internet continues to develop and customer expectation rises, grocery sites need to ensure that they are keeping up. There are a number of factors that companies need to bear in mind: Firstly that the site is available whenever the end-user is online and that it is easily accessible without long load times. However, an increasingly important aspect is to really understand what the customer wants and expects from the site. While it is relatively easy to know ‘who’, ‘where’ and ‘how many’ visitors access the site, this information is only partially useful without knowing the ‘why’ – this is what companies must now identify and react to if they are to attract new customers and secure the loyalty of existing users,” concluded Stern

* Study was based on 1,240 participants taking part (248 people per site) all participants were based in the UK and 18+.

The Keynote UK Online Grocery Study examined the technical performance of leading grocery retail sites using Keynote’s Transaction Perspective® solution, a leading subscription-based service for measuring and monitoring Web site performance. Transaction Perspective mimics the actions of consumers and examines performance from multiple geographic locations, collecting more than 3,000 data points across 40+ metrics for each site to detail online technical performance. The study offers insight into technical performance relative to competitors, and provides detailed data on site performance across seven key measures critical to the operational health of an online business.  For more information or details on purchasing the complete study, please visit: http://www.keynote.com/keynote_competitive_research/industry_studies/retail_index.html

About Keynote

Keynote Systems (Nasdaq “KEYN”) is the global leader in on-demand test & measurement solutions for continuously improving the online experience. As an independent and trusted third-party, Keynote provides IT and marketing executives with an unbiased view into their Internet services from around the world. For over a decade, Keynote has been providing measurement data and testing capabilities that allow companies to understand and improve their customer’s online and mobile experience. Keynote has four test and measurement businesses: Web performance, mobile quality, streaming & VoIP, and customer experience/UX. In addition, Keynote’s industry analysis group called Keynote Competitive Research publishes proprietary studies measuring customer experience and service levels across a wide range of industries.

Known as The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority™, Keynote has a market-leading infrastructure of 2,400 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 240 locations around the world. Keynote also maintains one of the most representative panels of online users consisting of 160,000 consumers. Keynote’s on-demand, hassle-free infrastructure allows businesses to access services they need, when they need them to pinpoint and fix mobile quality and Internet problems before they impact customers.

Keynote helps over 2,600 corporate customers become “the best of the best” by helping them improve online business performance and mobile communications quality. Keynote’s customers represent top Internet and mobile companies including American Express, BP, Caterpillar, Dell, Disney, eBay, ESPN Mobile, E*TRADE, Expedia, FedEx, Microsoft, SonyEricsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone.

Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at (650) 403-2400.

Keynote, The Internet Performance Authority, Perspective and Customer Experience Rankings are registered trademarks and The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority and True Experience are trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2007 Keynote Systems, Inc.

Editorial Contacts:

Ryan Whelan & Andy Chatterton, Johnson King, +44 (0) 20 7401 7968, keynoteteam@johnsonking.co.uk