Retailers Still Struggle With Mobile Transactions

Mobile purchasing has become the bread and butter of the shopping world

M-commerce sales predicted to make up more than half of all e-commerce sales by 2021 and revenue from those payments expected to exceed $420 billion by that same time (Statista). As such, more and more retailers are refining their checkout experiences to include mobile POS purchasing and one-click payments via mobile apps and the mobile versions of their websites. Unfortunately, a survey by Stratix shows that many retailers are still struggling to implement these types of mobile solutions into their business plans due to security issues.

The questionnaire uncovered the five biggest challenges that retail companies are facing when it comes to bringing mobile POS services to their stores. Though it didn’t top the list, (that honor goes to lack of proper apps in place), managing and monitoring mobile security was one of the main problems cited — with 45% of retailers reporting it is a major challenge.

Security also seems to be a roadblock when it comes to mobile apps and mobile versions of websites. Fluent’s 2017 Devices and Demographics report shows that enhanced security was listed as one of the top four factors that would make consumers more likely to shop via their mobile phones. That’s because many consumers don’t trust that their data is safe via mobile channels. Stronger security was especially important to respondents over the age of 45, with most listing improved mobile transaction security being even more important than easier site navigation, increased speed and one-click purchasing.

The security fears that businesses and customers experience when it comes to the mobile transaction world are understandable. After all, fraudsters follow the money, and with m-commerce exploding, criminals are no doubt sniffing out any vulnerabilities that they can potentially exploit. Take mobile apps, for example. A recent Business Insider study showed that retailer mobile apps accounted for 44% of all e-commerce transactions in the last quarter of 2017 — the biggest share of all channels (33% came from desktop purchases and 23% came from mobile versions of websites). With roughly only 46% of businesses using fraud management solutions across all transaction channels, there’s a strong possibility that many of those mobile app purchases seen in the latter part of 2017 were insufficiently protected.

Stats like these lead experts to believe that mobile transactions are likely to be a major fraud target in 2018 and beyond: The same way fraudsters migrated to card-not-present transactions, they’ll migrate to mobile and one-click transactions, as well. In preparation for this challenge, online businesses should consider what type of protection is best for their mobile channels.

While the instinct of many companies may be to implement the same fraud prevention methods they use for the desktop version of their websites, it may be better to think about fraud prevention solutions specifically designed for the mobile channel. After all, whether they’re using the mobile version of a website to make a purchase or using a company’s native mobile app, customers who engage in mobile transactions expect the utmost ease and convenience. In a world where customer friction levels have the power to make or break a business, the customer journey must be thought of every step of the way — which is why mobile fraud prevention methods optimized for the customer experience on that specific channel are key.

RISK IDENT’s DEVICE INTELLIGENCE SDK powered by sophisticated science and cutting-edge technology, easily pairs with our device fingerprinting solution DEVICE IDENT and allows businesses to offer friction-free mobile checkout and one-click checkout without increasing customer risk. A quick SDK installation is all that is needed for complete protection against fraud across all mobile payment platforms, including e-wallets, native apps, and one-click checkout. Together with DEVICE IDENT, our DEVICE INTELLIGENCE solution can detect tampered devices, the presence of a stolen identity and even the increasingly ubiquitous account takeover fraud. This allows companies to instantly and confidently acceptance mobile transactions of any kind.

To learn more about how RISK IDENT can protect mobile purchases for your business, please feel free to contact us at contact@riskident.com.