The vast majority of European brand websites are delivering a poor user experience for Chinese users, according to a new report by content delvery network, CDNetworks.
In fast, 85% of European brand sites fail to load within 4.8 seconds - the amount of time deemed acceptable by Chinese consumers. Worryingly, a staggering 60% of websites take up to five times longer to load for Chinese users than in Europe.
This poor performance is having a damaging effect on brand reputation, leading to concerns over security and brand longevity. It is also impacting revenues, with users immediately seeking alternative websites to make purchases.
Many of the issues European brands face can be attributed to China’s ‘Golden Shield’ or ‘Great Firewall’ as it is otherwise known. Its tendency to impact web searches, block content and occasionally make domains inaccessible, can cause unacceptably slow load times. Unless these challenges are anticipated and mitigated, they can have hugely damaging consequences.
To make matters for European brands worse, Chinese users are unsympathetic to the issues the Golden Shield creates and are losing patience with ongoing poor online performance. In fact, half of all Chinese users believe European brands should be capable of overcoming these challenges. More than half (60%) admit to actively avoiding non-Chinese websites with 44% of Chinese users believing non-Chinese brand websites perform consistently worse than native equivalents.
Alex Nam, managing director at CDNetworks EMEA, said: “The Chinese market represents a hugely lucrative opportunity for European brands eyeing global expansion.
“A reliable and powerful online identity plays a critical role in establishing core brand values and making a positive first impression. Too many European brands are falling short of achieving this and will find it very difficult to recover negative perceptions without fully understanding how to navigate the complexities of delivering a positive online experience to Chinese users. The financial rewards for getting it right are significant.”
By Jonathan Davies, editor, Digital Marketing Magazine
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