WebSitePulse 2010 Holiday Retail Performance and Uptime Report

For retailers everywhere, the success of the entire year depends on the next two months. The good news is that the future looks brighter than last year although shoppers will still remain extremely price-oriented and a bit reluctant to loosen the strings on their wallets.

Jeffrey Grau, an eMarketer analyst and author of the report Online Holiday Sales Forecast: Optimism Is in the Air predicts a growth of 14.3% in online sales over the same period last year which will boost the holiday season sales to $38.5 billion, up from $33.7 billion last year. Retailers will now have the chance to get a lot of new customers and strengthen their relationships with their existing clients by offering rich product information, easy return policies and friendly customer service representatives.

According to Grau "This holiday season consumers will open their wallets more than they have the past two years, even though they will remain extremely price-focused. Online consumers have become savvy at finding coupons, comparing prices, locating cheaper product alternatives, and exchanging shopping tactics and information about bargains with peers through social media.

WebSitePulse is monitoring ten of the most popular online shopping destinations for the 2010 Holiday Season. The Reports simulate a typical online purchase transaction, like selecting an item, adding it to the shopping cart and checkout, representative for the End Users' interactions with a website. Measurements of the multi-step transactions are made every 15 minutes, simultaneously from 3 different US cities. The reporting period covers the dates between November 22, 2010 and January 5, 2011.