The retail experience has changed in many ways over the years with advancing technology, but one major factor that has made an impact is payment security. According to the new survey from Ingenico and FreedomPay, “Emerging Trends at the Point of Sale,” security is the highest concern merchants have around the adoption of different payment methods.
As it turns out, this notion rings true with consumers as well. According to the report, security is consumers’ number-one concern at the register. While convenience and speed are greatly valued at checkout, security holds a lot of weight in how to make a payment or their decision to make a payment at all. Here’s how putting security first can make a positive impact on the retail experience:
Better security keeps business running smoothly for all
Across the board, merchants and consumers are concerned with keeping data safe and avoiding potential breaches. For merchants, data breaches can be costly and reputation-damaging. According to the report, 12 percent of merchants have had customers’ identifying information stolen and 16 percent have had customers’ credit or debit card information stolen. Not only can this lead to substantial fines, it also can create a lengthy PR crisis for the company. For the customer, this means they’re less likely to shop. Fear of their credit card information being stolen will stop 69 percent of consumers from shopping with a retailer again. More than 70 percent will stop shopping with a retailer if their identity is stolen.
Mitigating the fallout of stolen personal data is difficult, time-consuming and is something most customers would like to avoid. For the ultimate peace of mind and to ensure customers can trust that their data is safe, merchants should invest in payment technology that supports top-notch security measures. This technology should be backed by a balanced security approach, which involves investing in process and employees, for a truly secure payment infrastructure.
Merchants and consumers agree – EMV chip cards are great for security
EMV chip technology is an important and consistent part of payment security. While many merchants are understandably familiar with the tech, consumers have come to recognize the benefits as well through time and education.
While they may not know the term “EMV,” consumers do feel more secure when inserting over swiping. The survey found that those over 50 are at least 32 percent more likely to choose to insert an EMV chip card because they value the perceived security it provides. This is can likely be attributed to the fact that consumers are educating themselves, especially when it comes to keeping their payment information safe.
Security is a big part of the adoption and use of new payment technologies
This is where the consumer and merchant perspectives differ.
The Merchant Perspective: New technology is secure, and customers should use it.
EMV contactless cards and mobile wallets are easy to use, can decrease checkout time and are a highly secure method of payment. With all these benefits, many merchants will want customers to start using this technology more often to keep data secure and the business running as efficiently as possible. Though they can enable new and secure payment acceptance at their terminals, they can’t make consumers use this technology.
The Consumer Perspective: Uncertainty is a major barrier to adoption.
The study showed that consumers don’t recognize the security benefits of contactless as much as they do for EMV insert transactions yet: while older consumers are more likely to report that they’ve been using contactless payments longer, they also don’t use these cards as often or believe them to be as secure as the younger set. To truly reap the security and efficiency benefits of new payment technology, merchants need to take the opportunity to educate customers on the benefits and security of new technology like mobile wallets and contactless EMV. This not only helps gets consumers onboard with these new methods, but also helps them perceive the merchant as looking out for their data security.
Payment security is no longer an afterthought – everyone involved in the transaction process is interested in protecting payment data. The terminals, payment methods and long-term effects of a breach are all major considerations for merchants and the consumer perspective lends some insight into the best ways to keep payments secure.
Interested in implementing secure payment technology that you and your customers can trust? Get in touch with one of our experts!
Ryan Ahern is the Payments Solutions Manager at Ingenico Group, North America
