Disruptions to eCommerce cost businesses up to $1 million a month

A new survey of retail and consumer brands shows that nearly 40 percent of all respondents suffer customer-impacting disruptions, which cost up to $1 million per month.

The survey, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Catchpoint, finds 61 percent of respondents say internet disruptions have resulted in lost revenue, while 64 percent report damage to their brand's reputation that led to lack of consumer confidence.

In addition 65 percent of respondents report that even small disruptions in the flow of commerce can cause customers to halt their purchase cycle, highlighting the importance of identifying and resolving internet disruptions.

The survey also looks at internet performance monitoring (IPM) and finds that only 29 percent of companies monitor the full 'internet stack' (routers, firewalls, ISPs, DNS, CDNs, cloud services, website payment providers, video hosting services, etc.), resulting in an average of 76 disruptions per month due to inadequate visibility.

61 percent feel they require tools to anticipate, detect, and fix internet performance problems quickly, indicating a need for better management of Internet performance. And 74 percent say that customers have little tolerance for disrupted experiences, with 71 percent saying employees expect the same frictionless digital experiences as customers.

"The survey findings make a strong case for IPM, quantifying the consequences of not closely monitoring all aspects of a customer's experience and addressing issues before they happen," says Howard Beader, vice president of product marketing at Catchpoint. "Monitoring the entire Internet Stack isn't easy, with thousands of blind spots that could become disruptions or affect experience, but clearly failure to do so is having a material impact on businesses profitability and productivity."

There will be a webinar to discuss the findings on March 29 at 2pm EDT.

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