(MENAFNEditorial) Retailers in the Middle East were today urged to step up their security measures as record numbers consumers prepare to shop online this holiday season.
"Online spending is on the rise across the region and is likely to hit record levels during the holiday season," said Diego Arrabal, VP, Southern Europe and Middle East, F5 Networks.
"Today's consumer is increasingly online and mobile, and that is reflected in their shopping habits. This is putting pressure on retailers to ensure their systems are fit-for-purpose and, above all, capable of delivering a safe and reliable experience."
According to research by PayPal, online spending in MENA stood at US$ 9 billion in 2012 and is expected to grow to US$ 15 billion by 2015. US$ 3 billion of that will be spent on mobile, up from $500 million today.
Such surges are increasingly being driven by holiday spending, with the influence of US shopping events like Black Friday (the Friday following Thanksgiving – 28 November this year) and Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving – 1 December this year) starting to wield a global influence.
PayPal says B2C e-commerce is also on the rise in Saudi Arabia and will grow 40% between 2012 and 2015.
Worldwide, eMarketer recently claimed that B2c e-commerce sales will increase by 20.1 % this year to hit $1.500 trillion.
"Excitement is understandably high going into the holiday season but any heightened online activity will also bring with it a barrage of new, unpredictable and complex risks. While some cybercriminals will be looking at taking down big names with tactics like distributed denial-of-service (DDos) attacks, others will be on the hunt for your personal data," said Arrabal.
According to Arrabal, a key part of coping with the growing threat is to shore up mobile payments, which Gartner has forecast to grow around threefold by 2017 to around $721 billion worth of transactions by more than 450 million users.
Much of that growth is down to holiday shopping. According to Forrester, mobile shopping shot up during key shopping dates last year, in particular on Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. 34% and 38% of shoppers, respectively, said they used smartphones and tablets to shop. The figures stood at 21% and 23% in 2012.
"For the end user, the ability to conduct payments on mobile is extremely convenient. For businesses and financial institutions, the convenience and security of mobile payments appeals for its ability to tap into new revenue streams, and enhance customer loyalty through programs that leverage consumers' mobile data. However, without some form of fraud protection, retailers are playing a dangerous game. Fortunately, there's plenty they can do to protect both themselves and, crucially, their customers," said Arrabal.
Arrabal pointed to the increasing popularity and potential of solutions like clientless online fraud protection systems. These enable organisations to arm devices in real-time against all manner of online threats without the user having to do anything, snuffing out the danger of things like malicious HTML changes or script injections before the trouble starts.
"Today, device and behavioural variables can be vividly put in the spotlight, seamlessly clearing the way for honest consumers to shop away while malware or nefarious bots are left out in the cold," he explained.
"Switched on retailers can also give customers invaluable credit card peace of mind by using solutions that rigorously encrypt at the application level, ensuring that any data intercepted by troublemakers is impenetrable. Security is the kingmaker of the ecommerce world. Those that get it will reap rewards and customer loyalty. Those that don't will soon be overlooked."
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.