Australian retailers placed last on a global study examining the speed of company’s websites.

The Digital Performance Benchmark Report For Australian Retailers, by global digital agency Dynatrace, shows that websites of Australian online retailers are slower than their global counterparts. In terms of average response times of top retailers in December 2015, Australia came last with 8.2 seconds. France topped the list with 3.5 seconds, Japan 3.6; the United Kingdom 3.7, the United States 3.9; Germany 4.3, Nordic countries 4.4; South Korea 4.5; China 5.4.

Australia’s fastest retailers off the block included Apple (response time 1.1), Myer (2.9), Target (3.3) and Grays Online (3.4). Accordng to the report, consumers across the world expect a retail site to load in three seconds. If loading a website exceeds this time, 46 per cent of shoppers will shop elsewhere. If retailers reduce site response times from eight to two seconds, they will see a 74 per cent increase in site conversions, Dynatrace says.

In 2015, local retail sites increased the average homepage response time by 51 per cent, from 5.47 seconds in January to 8.26 seconds in December. This was predominately caused by Australian retailers adding more features and functionality to their sites in an attempt to connect with consumers. The attempts have made those sites more complex, heavier and slower to respond.

The report indicated Australian retailers’ use of third party hosts jumped by 27 per cent with local sites experiencing increased latency on these third party connections, more so than any other country. This is attributed towards Australia’s remote geographic location and distance from third party sources. The report says Apple reduced the use of third party hosts on its Aussie platform in a bid to deliver the same experience overseas.

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