COVID-19 Crisis Drives Changes in eCommerce Purchasing Behaviors, ACI Worldwide Research Reveals
07 April 2020 - 4:00PM
Business Wire
DIY products and gardening essentials, laptops
and TVs among most popular items bought online
The COVID-19 crisis is driving the global
growth of eCommerce sales, with millions of consumers worldwide in
quarantine shopping for goods, services and entertainment online.
Transaction volumes in most retail sectors have seen a 74 percent
rise in March compared to the same period last year, while online
gaming has seen a staggering increase of 97 percent, according to
analysis by ACI Worldwide of hundreds of millions of transactions
from global online retailers.
“During these unprecedented and uncertain times with millions
now at home, many consumers are going online to purchase products
or services,” said Debbie Guerra, executive vice president, ACI
Worldwide. “Quarantine has changed lives for all of us, with
consumers buying electronics and furniture—to support work,
communication, school and entertainment—as well as items such as
home goods and DIY products.”
However, fraud is on the increase too, the research shows, as
fraudsters are using the surge in online activity to target
unsuspecting consumers and merchants. Merchants are starting to
experience dramatic increases in COVID-19-related phishing
activities, with stolen credentials released into the eCommerce
payments chain, as well as increased friendly fraud activities.
“Fraudulent attempts are on the rise, and consumers must be
vigilant as fraudsters are using the current situation to obtain
and use their financial data and information,” continued
Guerra.
Key Findings:
Online retailer sectors with rising transaction volumes in
March 2020 compared to the previous year include:
- Home products and furnishings: +97 percent, DIY products: +136
percent, Garden essentials: +163 percent, Electronics: +26.6
percent, Telco: +18.6 percent
Online retail sectors with declining transaction volumes in
the same period:
- Ticketing: -60 percent, Travel: -44 percent, Online dating:
-8.9 percent
Fraud Trends:
- Average fraudulent attempted purchase value increased by $36 in
March, driven by electronic and retail goods; this corresponds to a
fraudulent attempted transactional value increase by 13
percent.
- Fraudulent attempted transactional volume decreased by 8
percent, driven by increase of fraudulent attempt purchase
value.
“Long term, we and others in the industry predict that the shift
in consumer behavior—opting for online purchases—is likely to
outlast the crisis,” concluded Guerra. “The industry is well ahead
of the curve in adapting payment methods and ways to combat fraud
in response to the changing behaviors and expectations of
consumers, which are now being expedited by the lockdown.”
Tips for Consumers to protect identity
and personal information during the COVID-19 crisis:
- Beware of online requests for personal information.
Coronavirus-themed emails seeking personal information are likely
to be phishing scams. Legitimate government agencies won’t ask for
that information. Delete the email.
- Check the email address or link. Inspect a link by
hovering the mouse button over the URL to see where it leads.
Sometimes, it’s obvious the web address is not legitimate. But keep
in mind phishers can create links that closely resemble legitimate
addresses. Delete the email.
- Watch for spelling and grammatical mistakes. If an email
includes spelling, punctuation and grammar errors, it’s likely a
sign of a phishing email. Delete the email.
- Look for generic greetings. Phishing emails are unlikely
to use a person’s name. Greetings like “Dear sir or madam” often
signal an email is not legitimate.
- Avoid emails that insist acting now. Phishing emails
often try to create a sense of urgency or demand immediate action.
Delete the email.
Tips for Merchants to maintain security
and deliver to customers during the COVID-19 crisis:
- Maintain security and deliver a great customer
experience, as consumer purchasing behavior—both genuine and
fraudulent—has changed.
- For example: Express shipment and Buy-Online Pickup In-Store
delivery methods in the last two weeks have tripled, making
transaction decision speed and accuracy critical.
- Use customer profiling and time-on-file techniques to maintain
the customer experience for valued customers and ensure good
transactions are still accepted.
- Expect an increase in Friendly Fraud Chargebacks as a
result of growing financial difficulties among consumers. Friendly
fraud occurs when a cardholder receives goods, but denies making a
purchase, or a family member makes a purchase without cardholder
approval.
- Monitor systems and update as necessary. Business intelligence
tools and real-time monitoring lead to immediate decisions and
responses. Employ rapid access to fraud intelligence to inform
rules changes in real time.
- Engage frequently with web and mobile site security management.
Give these teams the tools, techniques and procedures to detect,
contain and mitigate botnets. And considering the presence of both
good and bad bots, put business policies in place to address this
issue with clarity for both teams.
About ACI Worldwide ACI Worldwide, the Universal Payments (UP)
company, powers electronic payments for more than 6,000
organizations around the world. More than 1,000 of the largest
financial institutions and intermediaries, as well as thousands of
global merchants, rely on ACI to execute $14 trillion each day in
payments and securities. In addition, myriad organizations utilize
our electronic bill presentment and payment services. Through our
comprehensive suite of software solutions delivered on customers’
premises or through ACI’s private cloud, we provide real-time,
immediate payments capabilities and enable the industry’s most
complete omni-channel payments experience. To learn more about ACI,
please visit www.aciworldwide.com. You can also find us on Twitter
@ACI_Worldwide.
© Copyright ACI Worldwide, Inc. 2020
ACI, ACI Worldwide, the ACI logo, ACI Universal Payments, UP,
the UP logo and all ACI product/solution names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of ACI Worldwide, Inc., or one of its
subsidiaries, in the United States, other countries or both. Other
parties' trademarks referenced are the property of their respective
owners.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200406005503/en/
Dan Ring E-mail: dan.ring@aciworldwide.com Phone:
781-370-3600
Katrin Boettger E-mail: katrin.boettger@aciworldwide.com Phone:
0044 (0)7776 147 910
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