Check out your Ecommerce Website Usability or Suffer Lower Sales

Internet marketing consultants may like to concentrate on ensuring that their websites are running at their optimum levels this Christmas, as research has revealed that poorly performing pages are a deterrent for users.

According to Fasthosts Internet's latest study of 1,500 consumers, 42 per cent admitted to abandoning their shopping carts because of sluggish sites.

In addition, 80 per cent claim to have encountered such portals during the festive season and Steve Holford of the company recommended that brands make sure their hosting is responding in line with the increase in demand.

Otherwise, he said, "they will lose revenue and reputation".

"Usability can take a real knock at the most crucial time of the year," Mr Holford continued, adding: "Shoppers today are more impatient and unforgiving than ever before and are ready to source an alternative."

And women appear more susceptible to changeability in this regard. The findings indicated that the fairer sex are increasingly likely to turn to competitors' services if they experience difficulties, with 44 per cent taking such action, compared to 39 per cent.

Website usability appears to be a growing concern for industry players, as recent research from OpTier revealed that one in six surfers are deterred from completing their shopping transactions by badly performing pages.