Retail Website Load Times 9% Longer This Year

Since last year, the median load time for home pages of top North American retail sites (the Alexa Retail 2000) has risen 9% from 5.94 to 6.5, finds Strangeloop Networks [download page] in a September 2012 report. While that figure was for first-time page views (and uses Internet Explorer 9 to replicate a typical end-user experience), repeat page view load times have also risen, up 15% from 1.83 to 2.16 seconds. This despite the expectation that faster browsers, networks, and devices enable a faster online experience. (more…)