The report revealed that improvements need to be made to fashion brands’ online experience to put them in the best position to capture holiday spending.
20i analysed 350 of America’s largest retail websites using Google’s performance data to measure how quickly pages load, how stable they are, and how easy they are to use across both mobile and desktop devices.
In 2024, 70 per cent of online carts were abandoned, with 17 per cent lost to site crashes, showing how even small performance issues can quickly translate into lost sales.
Fashion sites reacted to user actions slower than the national average at 174ms, which could make shoppers click away to competitors, 20i said in its research.
Only 46 per cent of fashion sites passed all Core Web Vitals performance checks, revealing clear room for improvement before high-traffic shopping periods.
Page stability also needs improvement, with an unexpected movement score when loading of 0.13, which is behind the best-practice target of 0.1. However, fashion brands scored 90/100 for accessibility, above the national average of 87 and best practice benchmark at 89, meaning their sites are generally easier to use and navigate.
“Many fashion brands still have work to do to improve speed and accessibility ahead of the busiest shopping period of the year,” said Lloyd Cobb, director at 20i. “In the run up to Christmas, every second matters, if a site lags or crashes, shoppers don’t wait around, they just click away.”
“The good news is that many of these issues are fixable, and simple improvements to mobile performance and accessibility can have a huge impact on sales and customer loyalty,” Cobb added.
ALCHEMPro News Desk (RR)
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