Gomez announced its 2010 Best of the Web and Mobile Performance Awards winners, with JetBlue leading the way in travel, QVC topping the charts in retail and Capital One coming out on top in banking for mobile Web site performance.

Not meeting customers’ expectations for mobile site performance negatively impacts revenue and brand equity, according to Gomez. Per Morgan Stanley, the volume of mobile users will outstrip the number of desktop Internet users by 2014. By 2011 Nielsen expects the United States market will own more smartphones than feature phones.

“Web performance is a business issue,” said Jonathan Ranger, director of Gomez Benchmarks at Compuware. “The Best of the Web winners understand that if their Web and mobile sites don’t perform well across all browsers and devices their site visitors use, it can negatively impact customers’ experience on the site, their satisfaction and the likelihood that they will continue to spend time on the site or make a purchase.

 “They know that their customers expect the same efficient experience whether on their desktop, smartphone or tablet device and poor performance on any can influence brand satisfaction,” he said.

The case for performance
Consumers are using their devices to shop, read the news and search for information.

As consumers do more online with their smartphones, revenue is at risk if the sites do not perform up to par.

There is a huge opportunity in revenue that could be generated from mobile sites. In fact, eBay reported $600 million in mobile commerce revenues in 2009 and just one year later the company expects $1.5 billion in mobile sales.

 And, within just a hundred days of launching their mobile sites, both Marriott and Pizza Hut realized more than $1 million in revenue from those sites.

“Because it’s really become a one Web world where users demand superior Web experiences and highly satisfying, convenient, on-the-go Web and mobile site speeds regardless of their mode of access, retailers and bankers looking to address these challenges embrace a unified model for Web and mobile site performance and availability,” Mr. Ranger said.

“They obtain operational efficiencies and improve productivity by sharing the same performance management tools and leveraging established metrics, technologies, and best practices,” he said.