US survey: bad websites drag down high street stores

A recent email survey of 638 US online shoppers found that 41% said yes to the question "When you have a frustrating shopping experience online, does it make you less likely to shop at that retailer's physical store (if they have one)?"

This is markedly up from the 29% with the same answer last year. The increase in respondents saying that a bad site negatively affects their opinion of the brand was up from 55% to 59% and the number claiming that a bad site means they're less likley to return to the site stayed level at 82%.

So it seems that - as one would expect - bad sites don't just waste money and leave money on the table. A "frustrating shopping experience" also makes it less likely that a shopper will visit a brand's high street stores. Given that online shoppers are getting more demanding and expecting ever more complex functions on ecommerce websites, it is clear that high street retailers need to work hard just to stand still.