You might think of the e-commerce market as an unstoppable beast tearing its way across the world – and it sure looks that way based on statistics – but zoom a little closer and you may well find that things aren’t as smooth and glossy as you think. It’s no secret that cybercriminals are becoming smarter and thriftier every year, as data hacking headlines appearing in the news are an all too common sight.
As a result, according to this 2017 survey, the average online shopper has become much more wary about handing over personal data to e-commerce stores.
Conducted by Ipsos and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), the survey sheds considerable light on just how many people are genuinely afraid when it comes to purchasing goods online. 49% admitted that they straight up do not trust shopping online, with cybercriminals unsurprisingly topping the list of reasons why they were worried about their privacy.
While the sample size was only 24,225 people, it did include numbers from 24 countries, so it’s clear that brick-and-mortar shopping isn’t completely out of the picture yet. Until that day comes that online shopping is 100% without threat, a considerable amount of people will simply avoid the World Wide Web to pick up items. Starting an e-commerce business is, of course, a great idea, but it’s worth keeping in mind that it’s not a surefire way to all shoppers’ wallets.
What’s The Solution?
It might be easy enough for e-commerce haters to declare a victory with this recent survey revelation, but for the millions out there who still love to shop online, how can they spend and stay safe? Protection really comes down to the e-commerce stores themselves. The likes of Amazon and Jet.com are likely to have scary levels of encryption, but it’s the smaller online businesses who need to make sure they don’t give e-commerce a bad name. Lack of an SSL certificate is often the first red flag when browsing an e-store, as that immediately identifies an owner who is either shady or simply negligent when it comes to online safety. SSL certificates are easy enough to pick up, so it remains a mystery why any e-store owner wouldn’t get one immediately.
Some e-commerce site owners have also taken things up a notch and started to tackle online fraud. A company named Signifyd uses technology that apparently protects the merchants from possible fraudulent charges. 5,000 businesses, including the previously mentioned Jet.com, Peet’s Coffee, and Lacoste have all jumped on board and used the tech from Signifyd. The company is growing day by day, and no doubt remains an exciting prospect for small business owners to consider using.
If e-commerce sites can indeed continue to show consumers that they’re doing everything possible to confront cybercriminals and provide safe payments online, then maybe, just maybe, the skeptical 49% of shoppers could be swayed in the other direction.
Disclosure: We might earn commission from qualifying purchases. The commission help keep the rest of my content free, so thank you!
