A survey by the Forsa market research institute predicts a total turnover of the German online trade amounting to 23 billion Euros in 2006. The Federal association for information management, telecommunications and new media (BITKOM) even forecasts a turnover of 40 billion Euros for 2006. The German association for digital economy (BVDW) expects strong growth in e-commerce turnovers too. However, only websites which work quickly, which are always accessible and clearly laid out are said to profit from the boom, given that after three failed attempts clients wishing to access a website will be permanently lost.
The BVDW assumes that only a very small part of the total turnover potential is actually realized, given that the online turnover currently generated amounts to just 15 percent of the total potential attainable in German online trade.
One reason for this could be an inadequate performance by many online shops. At least this is the opinion of Arved von Stackelberg, Country Manager with Empirix. This company develops software for testing and monitoring of web, VoIP and call center applications. “Online clients adopt quite a resolute approach. They expect websites which are quickly loadable, always accessible and on which the information required can be easily found and purchases be made without any problems”, says Mr. von Stackelberg. A survey conducted by Empirix on this subject matter has revealed that online clients tend to abandon a website after three failed attempts at the latest. “This not only leads to clients of a company being lost, but also to strong losses in sales and a damaged image”, continues Mr. von Stackelberger. However, there seems to be a change of mind of small and medium-sized entities which have recently made increased use of website-related services. 