Articles about eCommerce

Back in November last year we reported on Amazon's decision to stop accepting UK issued Visa credit cards due to high processing charges.

The change was due to take place this Wednesday (January 19) but it seems that an 11th hour deal may have been reached to allow customers to continue using their Visa cards.

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One of the side effects of the pandemic over the last two years has been a boom in online shopping. But is this something that's here to stay? And what are we likely to see happening in the eCommerce field in 2022?

Here is what some of the industry’s experts think will be next year's trends.

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Poor account and password experiences at checkout mean two-thirds of shoppers abandon a shopping cart if they need to create an account according to new research.

Passwordless security firm, Beyond Identity surveyed more than 1,000 people in the UK and found that 62 percent of respondents have abandoned a shopping cart if required to create an account.

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Bots tend to have a poor reputation, launching cyber attacks, beating you to the best bargains on eCommerce sites and generally being a bit of a pain in the Net.

Nowadays bots are frequently available 'as-a-service' so it's possible to rent one for a period of time to execute an attack. But, according to research for Cequence Security, 32 percent of respondents say they've used a shopping bot before and 38 percent say they might in the future. So that's 70 percent of people who are thinking, 'If you can't beat them, join them.'

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Ecommerce giant Amazon is to stop accepting payments made from Visa credit cards issued in the UK as from January 19 next year.

Visa debit cards and credit cards from other issuers like Mastercard and Amex will still be accepted. The reason for the move is cited as Visa’s high processing charges.

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Former British prime minister Harold Wilson famously once said, "A week is a long time in politics." Of course in the age of the internet things move faster still.

Research from advertising company N.Rich shows that in the online world an awful lot happens in just one minute.

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When it comes to accusations of fixing search results, it is usually the likes of Google in the firing line, but documents seen by Reuters show that Amazon has engaged in such activities.

The news agency obtained thousands of internal Amazon documents cited as evidence that the company not only "ran a systematic campaign of creating knockoffs", but also that it was "manipulating search results to boost its own product lines".

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It’s been a while since the world shifted its shopping habits from offline to online modes. Smart retailers had realized the need to deliver a purchasing experience that was independent of the consumer's location. And online retail stores solved that need.

The growth of online retail is nothing short of a fairy tale. Back in 2014, total retail eCommerce sales worldwide reached $1336 billion in value, and it is projected to hit $6388 billion by 2024 at a staggering CAGR of 16.93 percent!

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In the hopes of adapting to the unprecedented digitalization era that’s impacted businesses worldwide, you’ve created your eCommerce site to continue selling to your ideal shopper. In an effort to overcome the pandemic’s aftermath, you stretch time and resources to help market your site and reach more customers. In doing so, you’re quite certain that you’ll make your money back in no time and quickly grow your business to beat pre-covid sales numbers.

You’re not alone; with over 24 million eCommerce sites worldwide as of 2021, competition is fierce, so making the right decisions and the right investments can give you the competitive edge you seek.  

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It’s estimated that there will be 2.14 billion global digital buyers in 2021. Naturally, every seller wants a piece of this tempting pie. The result -- e-commerce has become more and more crowded as a large chunk of traditional brick-and-mortar sellers is shifting online.

Also, in a traditional e-commerce setup, the customers are expected to visit your website, browse for products, and buy what they want. Though this is the modus operandi of any e-commerce business, there lies an important flaw underneath this string of steps -- "over-reliance on customers to visit your platform."

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One of the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a boost to online shopping. This has increased pressure on companies offering eCommerce to adapt quickly to the new business model.

But how well have businesses -- particularly smaller ones -- coped with this and what should they be focusing on as we move forward?

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Since the advent of B2C eCommerce in earnest about twenty years ago, an "armed conflict" has been raging between the merchants and financial services providers on one side of the equation, and the fraudsters attempting to take advantage of vulnerabilities in the ecosystem on the other side.  A typical metaphor for this conflict is the reference to the "Whack-A-Mole" game.  The implication is that immediately after a vulnerability is quashed by the implementation of technologies targeted to detect and block it, new technologies and tactics are introduced by fraudsters to perpetuate successful fraud. And so the battle rages on… until now.

One key consideration in preventing fraud is the use of technologies to determine whether the purchaser at the other end of an Internet session is actually the person they represent themselves to be.  Some would say that the first major breakthroughs in identifying "Who is there?" on the purchaser side was the use of IP intelligence, and associated technologies like proxy piercing detection. Additional enhancements to complement the first fraud detection technologies have included the addition of more sophisticated "inference-dependent" technologies categorized as Artificial Intelligence and Behavioral Biometrics.  All of the services delivered in this category use the combination of various dynamic and static inputs or "signals" to infer the probability that there is indeed a person at the other end of an Internet session, and that it is indeed the person is actually who they represent themselves to be. In other words, implying "Who is there?"

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When the knock-on effects of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent UK lockdowns are discussed, much of the focus is on the negative impact on the economy, our physical health, and our mental health. But, while the damaging effects are unlike anything we’ve ever witnessed, it’s not all doom and gloom.

While many businesses have suffered as a result of the pandemic, others have flourished. Exercise equipment, homeware, DIY, and gardening retailers, amongst others, were some of the businesses that flourished during the first national lockdown. When it comes to business-to-business, technology providers, ecommerce sites, video conferencing software solutions, and healthcare providers led the way. So did the companies who tapped into their services.

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2020 has been a boom year for eCommerce, with average daily transaction volumes equal to 88 percent of the volume achieved during Black Friday weekend 2019 according to digital trust and safety specialist Sift.

It also finds the average attempted fraudulent purchase value has risen to over $700 from October through November 2020, a 70 percent year-on-year increase compared to the same period in 2019.

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The Christmas shopping season is in full swing. This year, online retailers pushed the boundaries with "Black November" in the hopes of improving their online sales, thanks to the uncertainty around in-store shopping due to COVID-19, leading many customers to make their purchases from the safety of their own homes.

As a result, e-commerce merchants have witnessed a significant uptick in users and devices connecting to websites than in recent years.

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