DETROIT, Dec. 21, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brooks Brothers, America's iconic clothing retailer, is ensuring that quality and speed of its Web site is on par with the caliber of its in-store service with the help of Web load testing and Web performance management solutions from Gomez, the Web performance division of Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR). Using Gomez, Brooks Brothers ensures that its recently redesigned, content-rich Web site performs well for customers, especially during peak shopping seasons, like the days following Christmas when its ecommerce traffic traditionally spikes by more than 30 percent as customers redeem gift cards online.
To proactively ensure that this post-Christmas peak traffic does not negatively impact its online customers, Brooks Brothers recently completed a "real-world" Gomez Web load test. In a self-service fashion, the retailer built and executed a load test using thousands of desktop PCs around the US connected via different local ISPs and speeds, combined with high-volume load from the cloud. This combination allowed Brooks Brothers to realistically measure--from the shoppers' perspective--whether increased load would cause Web pages to load slowly or break. Measuring the impact of load all the way to end-users' desktops is particularly valuable for proactively identifying any performance problems with high resolution images, video, catalogs or similar content, which is often hosted and delivered by third-parties. Brooks Brothers' load test confirmed that its Web site could confidently handle a 7x increase in online transactions.
The load test was complementary to the everyday Web performance monitoring that Brooks Brothers has conducted for the past three years using Gomez to continuously optimize its site's performance. Brooks Brothers synthetically tests the speed and availability of its home page and a typical product search and checkout transaction, testing from multiple Internet backbone nodes across the US as well as from real desktop PCs sitting on the "edge" of the Internet, connected via different local ISPs. This approach provides Brooks Brothers with an "outside-in" view of how its site works, so that it can proactively identify and resolve any performance issues before shoppers are impacted. For example, Gomez's solution recently helped Brooks Brothers identify a third-party service that was causing its home page to stall. With the detailed diagnostics from Gomez, Brooks Brothers was able to quickly resolve the issue.
"At Brooks Brothers, our primary focus is delivering an outstanding customer experience," said Brian Dean, Brooks Brothers' Vice President of Direct. "Despite a challenging retail environment, our Web business continues to experience solid growth. One of the key contributors to this growth has been the role that Web load and performance testing has played. It's our early alert mechanism and an investment that is every bit as strategic as the Web site itself."
"Brooks Brothers may be the nation's oldest apparel retailer, but they are a leader in understanding the impact of Web performance on brand and customer satisfaction," said Matt Poepsel, Vice President of Performance Strategies, Gomez Division, Compuware. "Given the richness of their newly designed site and their anticipated post-Christmas traffic, adding Web load testing to their routine Web performance monitoring was a wise strategy and provided Brooks Brothers with extra confidence as they head towards the finish line of this holiday season."
As America's oldest apparel retailer, Brooks Brothers has long been a fashion innovator. Established in 1818, Brooks Brothers was the first to offer ready-to-wear clothing and has continued throughout history with iconic product introductions including: seersucker, madras, the non-iron shirt and the original button-down collar. Nearly two centuries later, Brooks Brothers is proud to uphold the same traditions and values and to be the destination for ladies and gentlemen from every generation. Since its founding 192 years ago in New York, Brooks Brothers has become a legendary international retailer while maintaining a steadfast commitment to exceptional service, quality, style and value. www.brooksbrothers.com
Gomez, the Web performance division of Compuware, provides the industry's leading solutions for optimizing the performance, availability, and quality of Web and mobile applications. The on-demand Gomez platform integrates solutions for Web load testing, Web performance management, Web cross-browser testing, and Web performance business analysis that test and measure Web and mobile applications from the "outside-in" - across all users, browsers, devices, and geographies - using a global network of over 100,000 locations. When combined with Compuware Vantage, Gomez offers the industry's only solution for optimizing application performance across the Enterprise and the Internet. Over 2,500 customers worldwide, ranging from small companies to large enterprises - including 12 of the top 20 most visited US Web sites - use Gomez solutions to increase revenue, build brand loyalty, and decrease costs.
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Compuware Corporation
Founded in 1973, Compuware provides software, experts and best practices to ensure applications work well and deliver business value. Compuware solutions optimize application performance across the Enterprise and the Internet for leading businesses around the world, including 46 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies and 12 of the top 20 most visited U.S. web sites. Learn more at: http://www.compuware.com.
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