Costco.com at 99.83% posted the best high broadband rating among big web retailers in August, says Gomez Inc. Costco.com was followed by Newegg.com and CompUSA.com at 99.76% and 99.75%, respectively.

Web shoppers could access a top 50 retail site with a high broadband connection an average of 98.76% of the time in August. That availability compares with an average of 97.71% for a low broadband connection and 78.12% for dial-up, Gomez says.

The retailer with the best dial-up success rate in August was Newegg.com at 99.11% while QVC.com had the best low broadband availability in July at 97.72%.

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Top 50 Web Site Performance Index: Availability August 01 , 2008 – August 31 , 2008

Availability (%) Rank Retailer Dial Up Low Broadband High Broadband 1 Costco 89.06 99.30 99.83 2 Newegg 86.61 99.31 99.76 3 CompUSA 78.05 99.07 99.75 4 Wal-Mart 78.56 98.94 99.73 5 Buy.com 83.42 99.07 99.72 6 Tiger Direct 82.45 98.93 99.68 7 J. C. Penney 91.58 99.16 99.65 Zappos 97.09 99.39 99.65 9 QVC 97.72 99.35 99.64 10 Chadwicks 86.48 98.71 99.61 L. L. Bean 70.11 99.04 99.61 12 1-800 Flowers 65.62 97.73 99.60 13 Quixtar 81.32 98.76 99.59 14 Staples 85.67 99.13 99.57 15 Macys Store 95.66 98.67 99.55 OfficeMax 62.20 97.35 99.55 17 Saks Fifth Avenue 72.73 98.69 99.53 18 Dell 92.05 99.04 99.52 19 Nordstrom 97.07 99.14 99.49 Toys R Us 30.17 92.73 99.49 21 The Home Depot 82.89 98.86 99.47 22 Coldwater Creek 94.85 98.71 99.45 23 Victorias Secret 80.09 98.94 99.43 24 Overstock 90.61 98.94 99.42 Williams-Sonoma 94.39 98.86 99.42 26 Barnes & Noble 84.08 98.77 99.41 Netflix 88.18 98.70 99.41 28 Drugstore 86.78 99.07 99.40 29 Blue Nile 88.62 99.09 99.34 30 Best Buy 91.85 99.11 99.33 Target 50.09 97.98 99.33 32 Office Depot 93.04 98.62 99.31 33 Amazon 76.46 98.93 99.29 34 Circuit City Home 86.35 98.75 99.28 Peapod 87.12 97.98 99.28 36 HP Shopping 54.96 97.73 99.27 37 Gap 34.00 96.41 99.26 38 Avon Shopping 88.13 99.18 99.24 39 CDW 96.07 98.49 99.14 40 Apple Store 47.59 95.88 99.13 41 HSN 87.01 98.76 99.11 42 Sears 56.01 97.75 99.10 43 FTD 64.16 98.28 99.06 44 Sony Style 67.07 98.11 99.05 45 Musicians Friend 56.62 98.08 98.97 46 Scholastic 89.90 98.62 98.91 47 Footlocker 74.93 97.60 98.88 48 Neiman Marcus 88.60 98.53 98.84 49 PC Connection 95.60 98.60 98.83   Benchmark Average 78.12 97.71 98.76 50 Oriental Trading 6.09 60.80 68.15

All data for this report is collected by the Gomez Last Mile network,

30 times an hour from Dial Up, Low and High Broadband users across

the United States, 24 hours a day except between 3AM to 6AM EDT.

Availability is determined by the percentage of tests that fail to

correctly load.