Poor website design could cost e-commerce businesses over £1 billion annually – Study

New research from enterprise CMS Storyblok reveals that badly designed websites may be causing British e-commerce platforms to lose more than £1 billion in revenue.

The study, which surveyed 6,000 consumers across the US and Europe on online shopping habits, discovered that each online shopper abandons an average of five purchases a year, collectively valued at £50, due to poor website user experience. Approximately 48% of UK consumers stated that they abandon purchases because of bad website design and user experience.

The research estimates that the annual loss in purchases attributed to poor website functionality equates to £1.41 billion. The key reasons for consumers avoiding purchases on a website include poor navigation or layout, slow loading speeds, pop-ups, and uncompetitive prices.

“Consumers want easy-to-navigate, intuitively designed, and fast-loading websites. However, a lot of e-commerce websites are falling short. Five purchases per shopper in missed sales may not seem like a lot, but when you scale this up to the number of potential new customers businesses are missing out on, it becomes a very significant amount of money,” said Dominik Angerer, CEO and co-founder of Storyblok.

The research also highlighted that cluttered or outdated site designs are the primary reasons for individuals aged 18 to 25 to abandon an e-commerce website.

Additional functionalities such as chatbots ranked highly as one of the most important aspects of an e-commerce website for participants aged 55 and above. Older consumers were found to account for higher-value abandoned purchases, averaging £60.52 compared to £34 for those aged 18 to 25.

Angerer emphasized the importance of getting the basics right, stating, “By investing in a headless, composable commerce tech infrastructure, companies can set the foundation for a great, fast-performing user experience.”