An international survey has found that British sites that offer safe shopping online are not as capable of offering a consistently satisfying experience to users as their counterparts in other regions.

Analysts at Applause gathered data on site performance in the UK as well as Germany and America, studying the most popular e-commerce outlets to see how well they fared during the busiest shopping period of the year.

In particular, the focus was on glitches and errors in the underpinnings of each site which might lead to conspicuous flaws that negatively impact a customer’s ability to use it effectively.

Sites based in the UK were responsible for 45 per cent of the total number of software issues identified in the report, while in Germany this proportion was just 23 per cent.

Overall, it was the US which offered the best user experience on average, earning a score of 7.8 according to the standardised metrics established by researchers. British retail sites managed to attain just 6.6 marks, showing that there is a long way to go before they are up to the same standards as their overseas equivalents.

The good news is that when consumer responses to an associated survey are considered, there are some areas in which sites are still managing to meet or exceed expectations. Just 16 per cent of respondents said that they were dissatisfied with the responsiveness of the e-commerce solutions they used, which paints a positive picture of the swiftness with which sites are able to serve customers.

Encountering bugs when buying from shopping sites seems to be a fact of life which a lot of people are willing to accept, meaning that retailers still have a lot of leeway so long as they are able to fulfil their obligations in other areas.