At stake is the $1,050 that each online shopper spends annually, according to the survey, with a significant amount of spending done during these peak times.

"This survey confirms that consumers expect retail Web sites to perform well for them, regardless of how many other shoppers are also visiting the site," said Matt Poepsel, Vice President, Performance Strategies, Gomez Division.

"It’s also clear that when shoppers encounter Web performance problems, their patience and loyalty run thin. Once a customer has left your site, chances are they are not going to give you a second chance–and few retailers can afford to lose business this way."

Highlights of the survey include:

•  A third of online shoppers had a bad experience on a retail Web site during the 2009 Holiday shopping season and 15 percent found the problem to be "unacceptable."
• These bad online experiences caused nearly one in five online shoppers to shop at another site.
• In general, 41 percent of online shoppers will only tolerate one or two bad online experiences before abandoning a retailer’s Web site.
   

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Email is popular with 45 percent of respondents who say it is the best way to learn about deals while 16 percent said they find out about discounts from a retailers Web site, and 10 percent cited banner ads.

Other popular ways for people to find out about bargains was from friends forwarding a link to a product, cited by 16.5 percent of survey respondents. Nine percent said they learn about deals from another shopper’s comments on a retail site and 3 percent said they learn about deals from friends on Twitter, Facebook or other social networking sites.

"Two years ago, social media wasn’t even considered a source of traffic by merchants. But today, nearly 30 percent of consumers cite some form of ‘social action’ as the best way to find out about deals or discounts online," said Jon Provisor, Guidance CTO and Owner.

"The top-down approach — which would include messages from retailers via email, ads or their websites — has been the status quo, and it’s what people are used to. But there’s a huge opportunity here for retailers to employ a social commerce strategy that gets peers talking to each other about the deals they’re finding."

In October, Forrester Research said that U.S. consumers are using social networks more and the activity is now considered mainstream. A Forrester survey found 75 percent of Internet users participate in some form of social media, up from 56 percent in 2007.

A recent Cone Business in Social Media study found that 85 percent of consumers who use social media believe a company should not only be present on social sites, but should also interact with its customers using social media.

"It’s revealing that 85 percent of social media users welcome interaction with companies within the social networks," said Provisor.

"That tells me that retailers are missing opportunities to connect with consumers. With only 3 percent of users in our survey saying that social sites are a good place to find out about deals, there’s plenty of room for growth, and that’s good news for retailers that need to boost sales this holiday season."

Thirty-six percent said they would not return to that site and fifty-six percent said they would only go back to the site if it carried unique items that could not be found anywhere else. Almost all of the survey respondents (96%) said that a Web site’s search function is important to the online shopping experience.

"Consumers have become more adept at shopping on the Web and as such, they now expect a seamless e-commerce experience from the sites they visit," said Dr. Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems.

"Retail sites must present shoppers with what they’re looking for in a matter of seconds or risk losing a sale, and even worse, losing a customer for good. Adopting a solid site search strategy that provides relevant results and browsing options to visitors and includes many ways for site owners to merchandise products, can lead to prosperity during the holidays and year round."

Using search engine optimization (SEO) is important for online retailers to generate traffic. The majority of online shoppers (87%) find retail sites through a major search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL. Eighty-six percent of online shoppers are likely to visit Web sites they have not heard of before because the sites rank high on the major search engines.

"Throughout the year, and particularly during the holiday season when our traffic increases tremendously, we’re dedicated to helping our online customers easily find the products they came to us for," said Alan Boyer, senior marketing manager for DeepDiscount.com, an SLI Systems customer.

"While SEO helps bring people to our site, site search plays a critical role in making sure they don’t leave empty-handed."

"When it comes to loyalty and rewards programs, this research shows consumers often seek the best value," said Stuart Frankel, president of DoubleClick Performics.

 "Seven out of ten consumers shop multiple Web sites before making an online purchase to find the site offering the best deal."

The survey revealed that 71 percent of shoppers browse a number of online stores before they make a purchase. Four out of ten (42 %) shoppers use comparison engines when researching a product.

Close to half (48%) of online shoppers said they were loyal to online retailers with a good value, service and product selection.

Seventy percent of respondents said they were members of a frequent buyer program. More than half (53%) ranked discounts and other offers as the most important feature of such programs.

 When considering doing return business with a Web site, 56 percent said that online order tracking was very important. While 41 percent said that "poor service" would deter them from becoming loyal to a Web site.

Free shipping remains an important incentive to bring customers back to sites.

Between March 29 and April 12, a panel of 1,000 consumers took part in the online survey.