“Black Monday” shopping activity hurts site performance, Keynote says

The popularity of doing online holiday shopping at work the Monday after Thanksgiving – so more consumers can shop with broadband web access – led to declines in retail site performance on Nov. 29, Keynote Systems Inc. reports.

The average speed in completing an e-commerce transaction slowed to more than 21 seconds from the typical 13-14 seconds Monday, beginning at 7 a.m. Pacific Time, according to Keynote’s E-Commerce Web Transaction Performance Index.

At the same time, the success rate for completing an e-commerce transaction fell to 80% from the usual 97%, according to the index. The E-Commerce Transaction Performance Index measures the speed and reliability for completing an end-to-end task for a particular online purchase.

Keynote says that similar performance declines were recorded by its Consumer 40 Internet Performance Index, which tracks the speed and reliability of 40 top consumer web sites. Both indices measure site performance and reliability from 10 metropolitan areas in the U.S.

While the day after Thanksgiving is commonly known as “Black Friday” for its reputation as being the kick-off of the holiday shopping season, and the day that retailers’ ledgers turn from red to black, the moniker has been extended to the following Monday for its usual surge in online shopping.