SAN MATEO, Calif., — August 15, 2006 — Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN), The Internet Performance Authority®, announced today the availability of its latest competitive intelligence studies for the online retail industry covering three categories: electronics, apparel, books & music. Each category includes two study components: Keynote Customer Experience Rankings and Keynote Service Level Rankings. The ranking studies are part of Keynote’s syndicated competitive intelligence program designed to improve the technical and business performance of leading Web businesses by providing detailed competitive benchmarking and insight into industry best practices across leading verticals.
Keynote uses its own commercially available test and measurement products to conduct the studies. Keynote customer experience ranking studies employ Keynote WebEffective™, a software-on-demand platform for conducting in-depth customer experience research which integrates the best aspects of usability, behavior and attitudinal preferences and research. Keynote service level ranking studies use the Keynote Transaction Perspective® measurement product to evaluate key performance indicators (responsiveness and reliability) for Web sites in the study.
Study Details
The electronics retail study evaluated the Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Buy.com, CDW (Nasdaq: CDWC), Circuit City (NYSE: CC), Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), Overstock.com, Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) Web sites.
The apparel retail study evaluated Banana Republic (NYSE: GPS), Eddie Bauer, Gap (NYSE: GPS), JC Penney (NYSE: JCP), Kohls (NYSE: KSS), L.L. Bean, Macy’s (NYSE: FD), Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), and Saks Fifth Avenue sites.
The books & music retail study evaluated the Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Borders (NYSE: BGP), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Buy.com, Overstock.com, Target(NYSE: TGT), Tower and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) sites.
Keynote’s competitive intelligence is based on large-scale panel-based studies that employ proprietary methodologies and Keynote WebEffective to provide deep and unique insights into the performance of dozens online retailers. The Keynote Customer Experience Rankings study examines the online experience of more than 5,600 consumers as they interacted with dozens of leading retail Web sites. The study captures more than 250+ metrics for each site and ranks the sites in dozens of categories including customer acquisition success, brand appeal and customer satisfaction.
Keynote’s research approach examines both consumer attitudes and behavior to provide a detailed understanding of the impact that Web sites have on customer experience and actions. This allows Keynote to examine why sites perform and rank the way they do. The study also provides detailed analysis of the leading and lagging sites across key business success drivers. This study was conducted during June 2006.
The Keynote Service Level Rankings study examines the technical performance of leading retail sites, including overall site responsiveness and reliability, by running 6,500 simulated interactions with each site over a one month period. Keynote uses its proprietary Transaction Perspective measurement computers (“agents”) to mimic the actions of a consumer browsing and purchasing from leading retail Web sites. The agents performed transactions, collecting details of site performance and reliability during a one month period during which they collected over 6,500 data points and examined 40 key performance metrics for each site. Keynote analysts used these data points to rank the sites in the study on each of seven key performance factors, which are critical aspects of the operational excellence for online retailers. The service level study was conducted between May 19th and June 15th.
Amazon.com. L.L. Bean Top Keynote Customer Experience Rankings
Amazon.com topped the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings, an overall measure of customer experience and customer satisfaction across the more than 250+ metrics measured in the study, in both the electronics and books & music retail markets. The study found that Amazon’s success was driven in part by its visual appeal, clear design and organization and because consumers were highly satisfied with the site’s product search function. Because of its success in these areas, Amazon.com also topped the Keynote Conversion Index, an indication of how effectively a site converts online browsers into online buyers. L.L. Bean topped the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings in the apparel retail market sector based on consumer satisfaction with its product offering, as well as overall search and purchase process satisfaction. L.L. Bean also topped the Keynote Conversion Index in the apparel retail market.
| Keynote CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Rankings Retail Web Sites (Overall Customer Satisfaction and Experience) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Electronics | Books & Music | Apparel | |
| 1 | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | L.L. Bean |
| Keynote SERVICE LEVEL Rankings Retail Web Sites | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Keynote SERVICE LEVEL Rankings Retail Web Sites | SITE RELIABILITY (Indicator of Site Being Highly Available, Low Downtime) |
||
| Electronics | |||
| 1 | Circuit City | CDW | |
| Books & Music | |||
| 1 | Borders | Target | |
| Apparel | |||
| 1 | Kohls | J.C. Penney | |
Keynote Service Level Rankings for Site Reliability and Responsiveness
Circuit City in the electronics category; Borders in the books & music category; and Kohls in the apparel category were the top sites in terms of site responsiveness, an indication of how fast the sites were in downloading pages and executing transactions. CDW in the retail electronics category; Target in the books & music retail category; and J.C. Penney in the apparel category had the industry’s best reliability, indicating those sites were highly available and experienced little or no downtime, according to the Keynote Service Levels Rankings study.
The Keynote Service Level Rankings study reports that, in part because traffic load has increased significantly over the past year, many retail sites are not prepared for the holiday load and are having trouble handling current summertime visitor loads. Some major retail sites are having difficulty staying up to industry standard 99.5% availability, and most all sites are experiencing small outages.
For an abstract about Keynote’s competitive intelligence studies of customer experience and service levels at retail Web sites view: www.keynote.com/solutions/ci_retail.html
For more information about Keynote's Competitive Intelligence offerings view: www.keynote.com/solutions/competitive_intelligence_tpl.html
Customer Experience Management
Keynote's customer experience management (CEM) services offer both competitive intelligence studies and custom engagement services examining best practices and consumer attitudes and behavior on the Web. To learn more about Keynote’s CEM solutions, visit:
www.keynote.com/solutions/customer_experience_management.html
Service Level Management
Keynote's service level management (SLM) solutions provide enterprises with the tools to align IT and e-business goals. To learn more about Keynote’s SLM solutions, visit:
www.keynote.com/solutions/service_level_management.html
About Keynote
Founded in 1995, Keynote Systems (Nasdaq “KEYN”) is the global leader in Internet and mobile test and measurement services. Keynote helps approximately 2,600 corporate customers become “the best of the best” online. The business premise supporting Keynote’s mission is: “Online businesses can’t manage what they don’t measure.” As an independent and trusted third-party, Keynote provides IT and marketing executives with unbiased benchmarking data, competitive analysis and operational metrics from the customer perspective. This data measures service levels and customer experience of Web sites, broadband services and mobile communications.
Known as The Internet Performance Authority®, Keynote manages a market-leading infrastructure of 2,100 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 120 locations and 70+ metropolitan areas worldwide that assess service levels and a panel of over 160,000 consumers who participate in interactive Web site tests that assess user experience. These online user experience tests capture customer attitude and behavior to answer the critical “why” behind the “what.” Keynote’s geographically distributed measurement services, on-site monitoring appliances, competitive intelligence and custom studies ensure that its customers outpace their competitors in online service levels and overall user experience.
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 and Perspective are registered trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2006 Keynote Systems, Inc.
Editorial Contacts:
Dan Berkowitz, Keynote Systems, (650) 403-3305, dan.berkowitz@keynote.com
Dan Cahill, Roaring Communications, (415) 552-3999, dcahill@roaringcommunications.com