Tesco is attempting to encourage higher online basket spend in Asia by speeding up the time it takes for its web pages to load.

The grocer has partnered with content delivery network CDNetworks to help accelerate the speed of its web pages in markets including China, Thailand and Malaysia.

CDNetworks’ technology works by saving website content that is accessed often - in Tesco’s case, images of the different products and product descriptions - on local servers in the country close to the end user. This makes sure the web page loads much quicker than if it was saved on servers outside of the country, as the data would have further to travel, causing delays and slowing load times.

The technology has helped Tesco reduce the speed of loading its web pages by over 70%.

Chirag Shah, lead service manager of online international grocery at Tesco said: “With plans to continue supporting our global position and online growth, we needed to strengthen our ecommerce end-user shopping experience in order to remain competitive. Speeding up the web page content delivery to our customers is imperative in order to provide an uninterrupted online experience and encourage repeat visits and purchases.”

Jeff Kim, president and chief operating officer of CDNetworks Americas and EMEA, said: ”Asia can prove to be a challenge for many retailers when it comes to ecommerce. Geography, local infrastructure and awkward regulations are all barriers to entry that need to be overcome in order to deliver an effortless glitch-free online shopping experience for consumers, while remaining competitive, building a strong profile and increasing revenue.”