Online payment processing has made some small business owners uncomfortable since it is an anonymous person making a purchase with a credit card that cannot be seen or held. With the right online payment security solutions however, online payments may actually be safer than offline ones.
In addition to quickly gaining popularity, online payments and online payment security have both improved due to technological progress. On the other hand, offline payments have led to major security breaches with large retailers across the country. It is time to consider whether online transactions are more secure than offline transactions, and if this can contribute to moving ecommerce to the next level.
In-person, offline credit card processing carries hidden risk, as merchants store confidential data on a computer that are usually insecure. It is important to make sure that your payment processor has modern equipment and uses the latest technology to offer adequate fraud protection. This threat will be greatly reduced through 2015 and is expected to be minimal by October, the deadline for EMV chip conversion in the U.S.
Online transactions can be safer because there are more tech tools in this realm. Offline credit card processing has not changed much in the U.S. since the 1970s, and the system was initially developed about 50 years ago. Online transactions were developed in the modern technological age, which continues to develop at lightning speed.
Mobile swiping technology allows for encryption right on the mobile device, and some payment processors store the decryption keys on different computers. In turn, consumers meet you half way. They create online accounts protected by complex passwords, and invest in theft protection services and anti-virus software.
More people are making purchases online than ever before and this trajectory is expected to continue. In 2014, there were about 191 million online shoppers in the U.S., which is 80 percent of everyone that uses the internet in the country. Currently, ecommerce is growing at 9.5 percent per year and it is expected to pass brick-and-mortar shopping by 2020. It is estimated that ecommerce will represent 11 percent of the overall U.S. market with 89 percent still occurring offline, but the shift is definitely happening.
