Leading analyst firm reveals the real cost of internet disruptions

"Without the internet, Digital Experiences do not exist," begins Increase Revenue and Improve Customer Experience with Internet Performance Monitoring, a study commissioned by Catchpoint to quantify the financial damage Internet outages inflict on e-commerce companies. At first glance, that statement might seem obvious.

But it carries more weight than it appears. The digital experience today isn't just an aspect of the business. For most e-commerce companies, it is the business. And when that experience degrades, the financial impact is immediate.

For e-commerce leaders, the findings in this study are a wake-up call. Internet disruptions, whether outright downtime, persistent latency, or sluggish page loads, are quietly draining millions from the bottom line. Most companies don't realize the extent of the damage.

What the Forrester study found

The study, based on a survey of 261 e-commerce and technology leaders, reveals how widespread and costly Internet performance problems have become.

• Internet disruptions are frequent: E-commerce companies average 72 disruptions per month, each one hitting revenue and customer trust.
• Revenue and loyalty take a direct hit: 65% of leaders say slow web pages are as damaging as full outages, and 69% report increased customer churn from disruptions.
• Visibility is limited: Only 32% have full visibility across the internet stack that powers their digital experiences.

The financial cost of Internet disruptions

The numbers tell a clear story. The majority of companies surveyed are losing millions of dollars each year to Internet disruptions, including both downtime and latency.

Estimated monthly losses due to Internet disruptions

• 42% of companies lost over $500K in just one month, equating to $6M+ per year
• 83% reported losing more than $100K monthly

The root cause: poor visibility into the infrastructure that connects users to digital experiences.

Monitoring gaps leave businesses exposed

Most e-commerce firms monitor some aspects of Internet performance, but the study reveals comprehensive visibility is rare. Only about one in three companies monitor the full internet stack,  across their enterprise, and even fewer do so successfully.

The internet stack is the collection of technologies, systems, and services that make possible and impact every digital user experience, from the core Internet systems like BGP, network technologies like TCP/IP, security technologies like SASE, protocols like QUIC or POP, cloud services, third-party dependencies including APIs and web services, and SaaS applications. The term refers to all IP-based networks including the public Internet, private networks, and everything in between.

The study states: "Without the appropriate technologies and tools, gaining visibility into the internet stack is challenging, if not impossible, but with so much to lose, that's no excuse. The Internet is the life force of e-commerce, and monitoring performance to identify and fix disruptions quickly should be a top priority."

In practice, most businesses are still reacting after the damage is done, often with incomplete data, manual troubleshooting, and no clear way to pinpoint the source of an issue.

Internet Performance Monitoring delivers measurable results

Companies that invest in robust Internet Performance Monitoring (IPM) are seeing real results. The study defines successful IPM as the ability to quickly identify the source of disruptions, allowing teams to fix issues fast and restore normal operations.

The data backs this up. Companies monitoring the full Internet Stack report 54% fewer losses than those without IPM, and 14% fewer than those who only monitor their most critical systems. Losses of at least $1 million are down by a third among these leaders.

The positive business impact of identifying Internet disruptions quickly

But while the benefits are clear, few companies are implementing IPM well. Only 32% monitor the full Internet Stack across their enterprise. That gap represents a significant opportunity for organizations willing to invest in deeper visibility.

Internet Performance Monitoring provides the full-stack visibility that e-commerce companies need to close this gap. By extending monitoring across CDNs, APIs, DNS, routing, cloud infrastructure, and third-party services, teams can pinpoint disruptions at any layer of the Internet Stack, rather than troubleshooting blind.

"Full-stack Internet Performance Monitoring is essential for digital resilience," said Mehdi Daoudi, General Manager and co-founder of Catchpoint, a LogicMonitor company. "If you can't see what's slowing your users down, you can't fix it, and that's money left on the table, customers lost, and teams burned out."

Gaining visibility across the full Internet Stack

The study highlights a critical gap: disruptions can happen at any point across the internet stack, whether in CDNs, APIs, DNS, routing, cloud infrastructure, or third-party services outside a company's direct control. Without visibility into these layers, most companies are operating with incomplete information when problems arise.

While 100% of study respondents agree that Internet Performance Monitoring has a positive business impact, only a small fraction are achieving full-stack observability today.

LogicMonitor's platform helps close that gap. By unifying infrastructure observability through LM Envision, Internet and experience visibility via Catchpoint, and AI-driven intelligence through Edwin AI, LogicMonitor provides teams a single view from user to code. That means faster detection, more accurate root cause analysis, and the ability to resolve issues before they become revenue losses.