BRANDING: #PaymentsTips
Each month, we’ll help you navigate the emerging trends and forecasts for card-not-present (CNP) merchants with (what we think) are the best pieces of advice from Verifi, as well as from across the web. We promise to keep this newsletter short and sweet, so let’s get started!
Q> The holiday sales season is quickly approaching and on top of that, the EMV liability shift has taken place. What steps do I need to take to ensure that my payments are protected through all these major industry events and as we move into this period of increased holiday fraud risk?
It’s October, which means many merchants are scrambling to prepare for the busy holiday season. Sales and mobile and fraudsters…oh my! Aside from choosing which promotions
EMV IS HERE. WHAT NOW?
MOBILE: CRIMINAL MAGNET?
CNP fraud overall is predicted to more than double in the next three years and mobile in particular will be a vulnerable channel. Merchants should ensure they are aware of all the channel risks and develop a comprehensive fraud prevention strategy that accounts for and integrates with all channels.
Need more reasons to look into mobile fraud and risk mitigation? Take a look at these convincing stats:
- M-commerce fraud costs retailers, on average, 3% of total revenue
- A study of 250 organizations averaging $2.54 billion in revenue reported average annual losses attributed to m-commerce fraud that equaled $92.3 million
- The average mobile fraud rate for large companies is 10 to 24 percent
CHRISTMAS IN JULY (NO, REALLY)
It’s no secret that holiday promotions are starting this month. In fact, most started in earnest last month and some even started as early as July. In fact, 20% of U.S. retailers reported that they would begin holiday promotions earlier than they did last year. Amazon’s “Black Friday in July” promotion this year aka “Prime Day” kicked off this type of holiday promotion earlier this year, even though most reported it was a flop.
Despite that seeming omen, predictions are in for holiday retail 2015 and things look good. Why? Unemployment in August was the lowest it’s been since 2008 and jobless claims are low, boosting consumer confidence and discretionary spending power. With a forecast like this, it’s no surprise most e-retailers plan to get out ahead of things in 2015. Other key findings to note about the holidays:
- Three quarters of retailers says at least 20% of their sales come during the holidays
- The vast majority – more than 80 percent – of retailers expect 2015 holiday sales will increase over 2014.
- 34% of retailers say on-time order fulfillment is the biggest holiday challenge, followed by adjusting to competitor activity (27%) and mobile traffic conversion (19%)
PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAY FRAUD RUSH
PARTING WORDS
We’re headed full steam during the busy holiday sales season and it’s important to bolster your fraud prevention strategy now to prevent crashing and burning later. The impacts of EMV will begin to unfold for both CP and CNP merchants, and remember – it’s not too late to become EMV-capable. Mobile will continue to boost sales and fraudsters will continue to find ways to exploit the channel. Omni-channel fraud prevention is critical to protect your profits across the board. Finally, get ready for a booming holiday sales season. While predictions look promising for merchants’ bottom lines, they look just as promising to bad actors that will seek to skim those profits through illegal and shrewd schemes. Guard your payments!
Don’t forget…you can now download our updated ebook: What Every Card Not Present Merchant Should Know: Navigating Today’s Challenging Payment Ecosystem? Get it now!
What are your thoughts? Ping us on Twitter (@verifi) with #paymentstips and let us know what you think.