Internet retailer - It’s summer; Santa is getting near

Known customer, but interesting mention of Internap in the online shopping vertical:

>>PC Universe works throughout the year with content delivery network Internap Network Services Corp. to ensure web servers are operating properly and supporting quick page loads and pulls of information from product databases. “We make sure that whatever technology we’re developing throughout the year is working at optimal levels,” Colletta says.

The retailer also drills down into critical applications like checkout. Working with AlertSite, which tests e-commerce applications, it can simulate typical shopping cart clickstream experiences of customers logging onto its site from multiple locations. “If anything fails during any step of a checkout transaction—for example, if an error page appears or information can’t be added to a billing address form—AlertSite notifies us via e-mail and text messages to our cell phones,” Colletta says. “We do this to make sure we deliver on our promise of a good shopping experience.”

Checking usability

PC Universe uses the Internap and AlertSite services throughout the year. It will also commission a web site usability specialist like LeftClick once every year or two to see if its online shopping features offer the kind of experience customers want. In the first half of last year, for example, it determined it needed a more user-friendly checkout. After a series of A/B tests, it went with a simpler though multi-page design that led to increases in conversion rates and average order values for the 2007 holiday shopping season, Colletta says.