Accenture Global Managing Director of Retail Practice Chris Donnelly advises retailers to listen to customers about how they want to shop and provide the shopping experiences they want. With advances in technology and social media, businesses can get real feedback from customers about how they want to shop so they can provide better service and increase sales.
The increase in volume and variety of online and in-store shopping methods means an increased need for online shopping security. Customers want to shop online but only within a secure environment. Although customers want the convenience of shopping with their smart phones and other handheld devices, they are also very concerned about privacy, safety, and security in the mobile shopping environment. Many use services such as Lifelock to monitor and safeguard their personal data and won't risk it with online purchases that pose any security threats.
Cyber Security
When businesses don't make online security a priority, it puts everyone online at more risk. Because cyber attacks have become more of a problem, the government is focusing on cyber security in 2014. The White House is preparing incentives such as cyber security insurance, grants, and public recognition to encourage businesses to improve cyber security to reduce or eliminate cyber attacks. Consumers want more security too, along with more online shopping and payment options. More online shoppers and shopping options means more risk, and the government is hoping to reduce that risk and get more business participation in security. Business analyst Mike Randazzo says payment processing providers and online security vendors are partnering to improve payment and eCommerce security.PCI Compliance with Payment Tokenization
Protecting payment card data and sensitive customer information requires PCI compliance, or adherence to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. In order to be able to process card payments, businesses must verify that they are not storing card data. Businesses can better comply with PCI with payment tokenization to keep sensitive information off their networks to better protect it from attacks.eRetail Transaction Fraud
Increased eCommerce shopping and sales means increased opportunities for fraud, making security monitoring a necessity. The National Retail Federation says this kind of fraud is why fewer businesses are accepting in-store returns of online orders. Recent eCommerce fraud methods include showing fraudulent e-receipts on smartphones in stores, using virtual private networks to hide illegitimate IP addresses, and using hacked mobile devices to get past security screens.eCommerce Security
Verisign VP of Technology Sean Leach says online retailers were particularly vulnerable during the holiday shopping season. They make up to 40 percent of their annual sales but can lose sales quickly in even a single instance of denial of service attacks and other cyber crime tactics. Leach advises businesses to monitor their sites to be prepared to respond quickly to cyber threats and work with a security provider to guard against denial of service attacks that could have lingered from the holiday season. This could create costly down time and critical eCommerce system breaches during the start of a new sales year.Accenture's survey revealed some surprising new shopping trends that are sure to impact eCommerce security in 2014. More shoppers say they are relying heavily on discounts and sales for almost all of their purchases. Some 70 percent say they will return something if they see it's cheaper elsewhere. That means meeting competitors' pricing or facing high returns and credits and the security for processing them.
Author Bio
Murray Lunn is a freelance writer specializing in content marketing for online businesses; his work includes business blogging, product development, and brand development.
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