• by Shankar Gupta , July 11, 2005

The Web sites of brick-and-mortal retailers were more reliable than those of pure e-commerce sites, according to a study released last week by research group Keynote.

For the study, Keynote evaluated 18 sites, including those of Web-only companies Amazon.com, Buy.com and Overstock.com; and major brick-and-mortar retailers including Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, Williams Sonoma, The Gap and Office Depot.

Researchers accessed sites via high-speed lines and dial-up lines and assessed factors such as response time, response consistency, network connectivity, page design, reliability and outage time.

Williams Sonoma, Wal-Mart, Eddie Bauer, Staples, Circuit City, and Best Buy--all brick and mortar stores--were the top-ranked sites for service. Keynote senior manager for service level business solutions Ben Rushlo said that the performance of traditional retailers online shows that they have started to realize the importance of the Internet. "These brick and mortar stores understand that their Web presence is essential, it's just part of their business," he said. "It's an essential channel"

Also last week, Keynote released a study tracking customer satisfaction with e-commerce Web sites. This study examined consumer satisfaction at 20 different sites. The top-ranked sites for customer experience were Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and L.L. Bean. The study also found that the top drivers for customer satisfaction were the visual appeal of the site and the satisfaction with the prices offered.