The holidays loom large on the calendar and people are starting to think about family, friends and food.
But there’s another word that security analysts say they should consider: fraud.
The shopping season is coming soon, and a study by Resquided, an AI-driven e-commerce fraud management platform, revealed that with purchases rising during the holiday season, the overall volume of scams tends to follow suit.
Inflation is likely to have a significant impact on holiday shopping this year, prompting merchants to lower their sales forecasts.
But rather than just competing for low prices, the study said merchants should improve: mobile commerce – or mobile commerce – and digital payments.
“With nearly half of e-commerce holiday sales expected from mobile devices and the growing popularity of digital payments, it is more important than ever to provide a safe and seamless purchasing path,” the report said.
The steady growth of e-commerce over a decade is a natural consequence of rising e-commerce sales, including the pandemic-era boom, Reskived said.
Mobile shopping goes into the mainstream
When the lockdowns went into effect, people came online in droves to work, study, socialize and shop – many through mobile devices.
Merchants have had to rapidly increase their digital presence, including mobile-enabled experiences such as contactless payments, in-store pickup, and curbside delivery.
During the pandemic, worldwide mobile shopping via websites and apps has increased at an average rate of nearly 50%.
“Two years on, mobile commerce has gone mainstream and is well on its way to becoming the channel of choice for consumers,” the report said. “By 2025, mobile mobile retail sales should more than double to $728.28 billion, accounting for 44.2% of U.S. e-retail sales.”
The report noted that mobile shoppers are not a particularly impatient group, with smartphones and tablets having the highest average cart abandonment rates at 86% and 81%, respectively.
As a result, it is critical for merchants to prioritize steps such as simplifying navigation, improving website load times, and simplifying checkout processes.
Creatures move…
But all these whistles and whistles are wasted if fraud prevention measures are not lifted also in the field of mobile commerce.
The report warned that a significant increase in legitimate transactions may “hide” a fraud problem, making fraud appear to take a smaller share of the holiday pie.
RiskFed cautioned that merchants should also be wary of false regression for good customers, especially when demand and competition are so high.
Digital wallets simplify one-click payments that account for half of the world’s e-commerce payment transactions. The market share is expected to grow from 49% to 53% by 2025.
The report said intent scammers can beat even the most advanced “fraud-resistant” payments.
Among other things, the report encourages merchants to look for solutions that offer real-time decision-making capabilities and a form of chargeback insurance to protect business throughout the year, but especially from increased chargeback costs during the holidays.
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