A survey by CA Technologies has found that 54 per cent of consumers have experienced difficulties shopping online recently. Three quarters of people said they felt utterly frustrated and 26 per cent will stop using a website all together if it causes them too much ‘web stress’. The top five causes of web stress are: slow loading website pages; pages which are hard to navigate; a lack of contact details; a lack of useful information; having to repeat billing details.

Tom Griffin, advisor, service assurance at CA Technologies, says: "Most of us now shop online for convenience, especially at Christmas when we are trying to avoid the last minute rush. However, our poll has found that consumers are easily frustrated and suffer from web stress when not able to perform simple tasks online, such as finding useful information and having to repeat enter their billing details. This is particularly evident during busy shopping periods, for example, on the run up to Christmas. We undertook our consumer poll in light of the results of a recent CA Technologies research study into what businesses are doing to deal with these issues. We were surprised to find that a stunning 73 per cent of UK businesses do not have a strategy in place to determine how well they are managing their online services.”

"If businesses are able to provide a web stress-free online shopping experience for shoppers, despite all the extra web traffic, the pain can be taken out of Christmas for both consumers and businesses. But if it continues to be a difficult process for consumers, some may end-up going back to battle the crowds on the high street to avoid web stress,” he adds.

Share Story: