As a new survey by PCI Pal has shown, consumers seem to be more concerned about their shopping in the run-up to the Christmas season.
A whopping 74% of UK consumers surveyed said they would avoid making purchases from a company they knew had been breached in the past 12 months.
The COVID-19 has led to an increase in cyberattacks as more employees work from home. There is greater concern about how businesses will handle their data securely ,with 45% saying they are “a little concerned” and a further 28% saying they are “a lot more concerned” about data security. Only 26% of people surveyed in 2002 said they felt “less concerned” about how their credit card data was handled.
Geoff Forsyth, CISO at PCI Pal, said: “While shoppers have told us that the way they shop has changed, largely driven by the pandemic, what is clear is that trust is a key factor. Nearly 6 in 10 people said they will continue to shop with the same retailers, using their digital shopping channels, rather than visiting their stores, this year. There is clearly a much greater emphasis on digital shopping due to the pandemic and retailers need to prioritise data security in order to maximise spending over the festive season.”
Just 9% of UK consumers said they will visit physical stores for their shopping after the Covid-19 pandemic. In contrast, 79% said they intend to continue making their purchases through digital channels for part or all of their shopping when we return to normalcy.
There were also many buyers who said they shop from different online retail merchants than the ones they were used to, with 48% stating that the reason for this is a lack of security or privacy, while one third said it is due to a poor experience on the website or performance issues.
With 30% of consumers saying their holiday shopping would typically be done in-store, the pandemic appears to have radically changed shopping habits, with just 17% using this method in recent months. In contrast, 64% have turned to the internet, while 9% prefer apps for shopping.
When asked which purchase channels they believe are safer regarding handling of card data, the preferred methods were split equally with 38% choosing the physical store, while 38% chose the online method.
