Payment volume at your business will likely see an uptick this holiday season and so will payment security concerns. More consumers and transactions are all the more reason why you need to secure how you accept credit cards. Here is the list of concerns you should think about this season followed by best practices you should employ to get you through the holidays.
Payment Security Concerns for the Holidays
Point of sale terminal security. According to a report by Visa, only 37% of all US merchants accept credit cards using an EMV-enabled terminal. This is tremendous progress since the liability shift of 2015, but the majority of merchants are still relying on less-secure magstripe payments.
Consumers don’t have time for security. Your customers are impatient, especially around this time of year. A lot of the holiday season is dependent on how much time your customers have to finish shopping, wrap gifts, decorate, host dinner… the list goes on. According to research from PayPal, almost half of the surveyed consumers prefer speed while a little more than 40% prefer secure ways that your business can accept credit cards.
Web fraud is on the rise. We’ve encouraged you to consider creating online and mobile shopping opportunities this holiday season; but – fair warning – where the customers go, the fraudsters are sure to follow. Thanks to the EMV liability shift making the point of sale more secure, fraudsters are headed online where it doesn’t matter if a customer has a chip card. According to ACI Worldwide, it’s predicted that the potential for online or mobile fraud in the US will reach 43% by volume this holiday season (compared to last year’s statistics)
Address Concerns If You Plan to Accept Credit Cards This Season
Secure your servers. Target, if you’ll remember, suffered a major breach and residual payment security concerns during their busiest shopping season a few years back. Don’t be like Target – secure your servers that contain customer data. Be sure to include your gateways in that security test – these applications maintain security around your entire system (as well as mitigate payment security concerns).
Educate your staff. Your staff needs to understand the importance of security (yes, even your seasonal or high school student staff). These individuals are likely responsible for interacting with your payment systems (and the customers that use them) regularly. Do they truly know how to operate your POS system? Do they know what action to take if someone attempts to make a fraudulent transaction? These are important questions to ask while you’re building your team, whether or not it’s the holiday season.
Experience Payments Differently
Secure your business this holiday season and start 2017 with a trustworthy payment processor. With top-notch fraud-prevention solutions, Payline makes the process of finding a processor painless and promising.
