Among those that ran into difficulty, 13 percent said they had to abandon a very slow Web site while trying to shop, 8 percent said a Web site froze or crashed, 7 percent could not complete a purchase on their first try and 4 percent said a purchase they thought they had completed actually did not go through.

"While online shoppers may have escaped the ferocious winter weather, a significant number didn’t elude the issues that tend to afflict overburdened, under-engineered eCommerce sites," said Jason Meugniot, Guidance CEO and Owner. 

"Ideally, every shopping cart that is not abandoned by the shopper should be converted – and every one that doesn’t sends a message to the consumer.  Uptime, speed and reliability ought to be prerequisites of the online shopping experience.  Still, I’m heartened by the success that many online shoppers enjoyed, especially since deep discounts, special offers and free shipping/returns made online shopping a better value than ever this season." 

Women were more likely to say their online purchases were completed with out incident (44 percent, compared with 36 percent of men).

Respondents at both ends of the age spectrum seemed to have more problems than their counterparts overall: just 35 percent of both 18-24 and the 65+ age groups said their online shopping was incident-free, versus 40 percent of the overall sample. Respondents 25-54 were most likely to say their online shopping was incident-free: 44.5 percent of those 25-34, 46.5 percent of those 35-44, and 40 percent of those 45-54.