The Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation offers SMEs a free tool to improve their online sales performance.
• Companies are also able to consult a study, conducted by Vikinguard, on e-commerce web page load speeds in Spain, and do a free course on web analysis for e-commerce.
• The study highlights the need to improve e-commerce in Spain, which would help to increase the volume of exports through this channel.
The Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation has launched a new tool for Spanish SMEs to optimise their online sales performance. The software, developed by Vikinguard, enables ongoing monitoring of performance, availability and load time for any online store and sends notifications when a problem is detected.
The initiative is part of the First Export Programme, through which the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation assists small and medium-sized enterprises with their international development plans. The programme is focused on supporting SMEs as they take their first steps in exporting anywhere in the world, with a complete, continuous training plan, free of charge, including classroom-based and online training sessions, advice and personalised tutorials.
The First Export Programme was first launched in Argentina in 2001 and has enabled over 25,300 companies to receive training on foreign trade and 1,200 SMEs in Argentina to begin exporting. It was launched in Spain in 2014 and over 1,600 entrepreneurs and executives from Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises have taken part so far. The programme has provided customised advice and consultancy to 83 of these SMEs, 15% of which are already exporting their products. To take part in the programme, interested companies need to provide a CIF (tax ID number) and sign up for the programme on the website: www.fundacionnaturgy.org.
Study about the loading speed of e-commerce in Spain
The Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation is aware that e-commerce is a basic export tool for companies, the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation has also decided to provide SMEs with access to a study on e-commerce load times in Spain and offer them the possibility of taking a free course in web analysis for e-commerce. Both the study and the course are available online and can be downloaded from the following link. https://www.vikinguard.com/informe-velocidad-carga-curso-ecommerce
The study, conducted by Vikinguard, highlights the poor performance of e-commerce in Spain, showing that the average load time for the online stores analysed is 7.33 seconds compared to the 2-4 seconds recommended, according to a study by Forrester for Akamai. The report also highlights the fact that the average APDEX (application performance index) score for Spanish e-commerce is 0.35 out of 1, which falls into the “unacceptable” range, and that the average Google PageSpeed score in Spain is only 62.5 out of 100.
Such figures underline the fact that Spanish e-commerce has a long way to go to reach the page load times recommended for optimising both user experience and satisfaction and sales. Page load speed is an aspect that is currently rather overlooked by Spanish online stores and is holding back both domestic sales and exports.
In order to conduct this study, over two million load time measurements were obtained from more than 26,000 Spanish online stores, and from 3 servers situated in Frankfurt, Sao Paulo and Madrid, with the aim of obtaining representative samples from several geographical areas.
With regard to the course, it provides SMEs with content on web analysis for e-commerce and offers some very useful tips for SMEs: how to improve the SEO positioning with Google Analytics, how to use the Advanced Segments tool and how to retain customers using social networks. The training consists of 6 hours of video which are sent gradually over the six days following registration.
The Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation
The Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation, founded in 1992 by GAS NATURAL FENOSA, focuses its activities on promoting information, training and increased social awareness in improving energy efficiency and technological innovation in the field of energy while respecting and protecting the environment, and promotes cultural activities through the Gas Museum aimed at preserving and spreading knowledge about the historical and cultural heritage of the sector. Its international activities are carried out in Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Morocco, Italy, Moldova and South Africa.
Barcelona, 08 September 2016.
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