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Both sites were down for the majority of the day, and didn't reappear until this morning. <div> </div><div>A DSGi spokesman told me that this was due to "technical issues after routine maintenance which took a little longer than we hoped to rectify", adding that, as all three sites are on the same e-commerce platform, they all went down at once. Error messages were displayed on all home pages, while a Google search gave this result, which did at least save users the trouble of visiting the site. <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3100/3193204529_4fc262c8e1_o.jpg" />Exactly how much DSGi lost in potential sales from this 'maintenance' is unclear but, based on the fact that its <a href="http://www.dsgiplc.com/Uploads/%7Bdda01d0d-71a4-49c6-b8f6-c5a546a8351b%7D/FINAL%20INTERIM%20REPORT%202008.pdf">e-commerce sales for the 24 weeks to 18 Oct 2008 amounted to £275.6m</a> (PDF), it is possible that the downtime cost the company a seven-figure sum in lost revenues.This is similar to the problems which affected Debenhams before Christmas, when its website was <a href="http://econsultancy.com/blog/2989-debenhams-website-cracks-under-the-strain">unable to keep up with extra demand</a> caused by its sale. On that occasion, rival retailers <a href="http://econsultancy.com/blog/3002-debenhams-crash-provides-a-bonus-for-competitors">Next, John Lewis and M&S all benefitted from extra traffic</a> from Debenhams. I'm betting that competitors such as Comet had some extra traffic yesterday. Update:Robin Goad from <a href="http://www.hitwise.co.uk/">Hitwise</a> sent over some stats on the effect of the sites going offline. Both Currys and PC World experienced a drop in traffic, 29.4% and 26.9% respectively. Meanwhile, Comet's traffic (in yellow) remained the same: <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3395/3195070596_2fc90ebd8d_o.jpg" /> Unsurprisingly, average visit times also decreased. While Comet's fell only slighty, by 5%, Currys and PC World's average dropped by 52.4% and 48% respectively: <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/3195070674_f47beb26a6_o.jpg" /> </div>

Both sites were down for the majority of the day, and didn't reappear until this morning. <div> </div><div>A DSGi spokesman told me that this was due to "technical issues after routine maintenance which took a little longer than we hoped to rectify", adding that, as all three sites are on the same e-commerce platform, they all went down at once. Error messages were displayed on all home pages, while a Google search gave this result, which did at least save users the trouble of visiting the site. <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3100/3193204529_4fc262c8e1_o.jpg"> Exactly how much DSGi lost in potential sales from this 'maintenance' is unclear but, based on the fact that its <a href="http://www.dsgiplc.com/Uploads/%7Bdda01d0d-71a4-49c6-b8f6-c5a546a8351b%7D/FINAL%20INTERIM%20REPORT%202008.pdf">e-commerce sales for the 24 weeks to 18 Oct 2008 amounted to £275.6m</a> (PDF), it is possible that the downtime cost the company a seven-figure sum in lost revenues. This is similar to the problems which affected Debenhams before Christmas, when its website was <a href="http://econsultancy.com/blog/2989-debenhams-website-cracks-under-the-strain">unable to keep up with extra demand</a> caused by its sale. On that occasion, rival retailers <a href="http://econsultancy.com/blog/3002-debenhams-crash-provides-a-bonus-for-competitors">Next, John Lewis and M&S all benefitted from extra traffic</a> from Debenhams. I'm betting that competitors such as Comet had some extra traffic yesterday. Update: Robin Goad from <a href="http://www.hitwise.co.uk/">Hitwise</a> sent over some stats on the effect of the sites going offline. Both Currys and PC World experienced a drop in traffic, 29.4% and 26.9% respectively. Meanwhile, Comet's traffic (in yellow) remained the same: <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3395/3195070596_2fc90ebd8d_o.jpg"> Unsurprisingly, average visit times also decreased. While Comet's fell only slighty, by 5%, Currys and PC World's average dropped by 52.4% and 48% respectively: <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/3195070674_f47beb26a6_o.jpg"> </div>

2009-01-12T23:05:10+00:00

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Three of DSGi's major UK e-commerce sites were down for maintenance for a large part of the day yesterday, with Currys, PC World and Dixons all displaying error messages for visitors. The retail group is <a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5501968.ece">expected to report</a> disappointing like-for-like sales figures this week, and can ill-afford the loss of a day's online trading in such economic circumstances. <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3100/3193204111_cc5801068b_o.jpg" />

Three of DSGi's major UK e-commerce sites were down for maintenance for a large part of the day yesterday, with Currys, PC World and Dixons all displaying error messages for visitors. The retail group is <a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5501968.ece">expected to report</a> disappointing like-for-like sales figures this week, and can ill-afford the loss of a day's online trading in such economic circumstances. <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3100/3193204111_cc5801068b_o.jpg">

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Refer also to Econsultancy's <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/user-experience-buyers-guide">User Experience Buyer's Guide</a> and <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/effective-web-design-best-practice-guide">Effective Web Design Guide</a> for more information about best practice in these areas.

DSGi sites take the day off false

2009-01-13T11:00:00+00:00

dsgi-sites-take-a-day-off

2009-04-29T23:49:10+01:00

2009-10-13T09:56:48+01:00

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