SAN MATEO, Calif., — November 24, 2006 — Keynote Competitive Research, the industry analysis group of Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN), today provided a summary of the performance of online retailers during Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year and the kick-off to the holiday shopping period. Keynote reported that several leading online retailers reported significant performance issues, while the majority of the online retailers performed well in handling the online shopping rush. Keynote also announced that it will continue to monitor online retail performance and be available to media over the holiday weekend and throughout the holiday season.
“Just as today is one of the busiest shopping days of the year in stores across the country, it is also one of the busiest days of the year for online shopping,” said Ben Rushlo, senior manager of competitive research at Keynote. “A few leading online retailers were ill prepared to handle the online shopping rush, and showed significant performance issues including slowdowns and outages. However, the majority of online retailers handled the rush well, showing little or no performance issues despite the increased traffic of the holiday season.”
Keynote’s measuring and monitoring of leading retail sites indicated that several retailers reported major outages over Thanksgiving and Black Friday, including more than 10 hours of downtime from one of the nation’s leading retailers. Visitors to the sites recording such downtime or slowdowns would have received error messages or experienced significant slowdowns, with pages taking up to 8 to 10 times longer to download then normal. Slowdowns most typically occur during a search process or during the checkout process.
“For most online retailers it was smooth sailing, but for those few with problems, they were among the most significant performance issues we have seen this year,” said Rushlo.
Despite the poor performance of a couple notable retailers, the overall performance of retailers was positive, with most retailers experiencing little or no slowdowns or downtime.
“Most online consumers would not have noticed any major issues or slowdowns on most of the sites they browsed or shopped on,” said Rushlo. “It is quite a testament to the systems and preparation of these retailers that online shopping today, during the height of the holiday shopping season, would go as smoothly as any other day of the year.”
Keynote said it noted a spike in demand for the Amazon.com site driven by “flash traffic” to the site shortly after the online retailer announced a promotion for the sale of XBOX 360. Keynote reported that Amazon.com has performed exceedingly well in terms of performance – the speed and reliability of its site – over the course of the Black Friday shopping rush.
“Amazon.com has been virtually perfect over the last two days, with no performance slowdowns and only a small period of performance stress when the XBOX 360 promotion was occurring,” said Rushlo. “Amazon.com was clearly ready for the holiday rush.”
Keynote also noted that online apparel retailers seemed to be recording more performance issues than other online retailers. Keynote also noted that traditional retail companies seemed to be performing on par with the pure online retailers (or “e-tailers”) in terms of service level performance.
“Online shoppers are savvier than ever and any negative experience on a site – performance issues, outages and errors – can directly impact their likelihood to purchase. If a site is down, a customer can easily go to a competitor to make the purchase.”
The Keynote Online Holiday Shopping Indices, are transaction performance indices from Keynote comprised of performance data from leading shopping sites across major retail categories. The indices collect measurement data over both broadband and dial-up Internet connections and go beyond the homepage and shopping cart page to collect data all the way through to the checkout page.
The data used to create Keynote’s shopping indices is collected in real time on an hourly basis from 10 cities across the U.S. providing an up-to-the-minute barometer of online consumer experience throughout the 2006 holiday shopping season. The index data is collected using Transaction PerspectiveŽ 7.0, Keynote’s market-leading Web site performance measurement and monitoring service.
Keynote’s 2006 Online Holiday Shopping Indices are available for purchase. For more information on purchasing the indices please call 1 (800) KEYNOTE (539-6683).
Sites on Keynote’s apparel index include: Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF); Eddie Bauer (Nasdaq: EBHI); Foot Locker (NYSE: FL); Gap (NYSE: GPS); JC Penney (NYSE: JCP); JCrew; Macy’s (Federated Department Stores, NYSE: FD); Neiman Marcus; Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN); Saks Fifth Avenue (NYSE: SKS); Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD); Zappos.
Sites on Keynote’s books & music index include: AbeBooks.com; Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN); Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS); Borders (NYSE: BGP); Buy.com; Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK); Target (NYSE: TGT); Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).
Sites on Keynote’s electronics index include: Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN); Best Buy (NYSE: BBY); Buy.com; CDW (Nasdaq: CDWC); Circuit City (NYSE: CC); Dell (Nasdaq: DELL); Office Depot (NYSE: ODP); OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX); Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK); Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS); Toys R Us (NYSE: XKE); Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).
Information regarding the methodology behind Keynote’s Web performance indices can be found at: www.keynote.com/solutions/performance_indices/retail/retail.html
For general information on Keynote’s Web performance indices view: www.keynote.com/solutions/mm_public_services.html
About Keynote Competitive Research
Keynote Competitive Research is the industry analysis group within Keynote that produces Web performance indices and ranking studies of Web site performance in the areas of service levels (responsiveness/reliability), customer experience and best practices implementation. The studies and indices produced are all available for purchase.
Keynote Competitive Research provides deep insights into an industry’s online best practices and how a particular Web site’s customer experiences and performance levels compare to key competitors. Keynote uses the world’s largest Internet test & measurement network and one of the most representative panels of Internet users to deliver data and insights on the end user experience. Keynote Competitive Research provides an online business with an in-depth understanding of its customers, competitors and markets. It helps an online business to determine the best strategies for gaining a competitive edge and accomplishing business goals.
About Keynote
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq “KEYN”) is the global leader in test & measurement solutions that improve mobile communications and online business performance. 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, we have 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, our 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 geographic locations around the world. Keynote also maintains one of the most representative panels of online users consisting of 160,000 consumers. Our 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.
We help over 2,600 corporate customers become “the best of the best” by helping them improve online business performance and mobile communications quality. Our 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 and Perspective are registered trademarks and The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority is a trademark of Keynote Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2006 Keynote Systems, Inc.
Editorial Contacts:
Dan Berkowitz, Keynote Systems, (415) 518-7870, dan.berkowitz@keynote.com
Dan Cahill, Roaring Communications, (415) 552-3999, dcahill@roaringcommunications.com