A Booming Market for Mobile Commerce Where Trust is Essential
Dave Deasy
VP Marketing | TRUSTe
@davedeasy
Online retailers were predicted to benefit from a $43.4 billion holiday sales season as shoppers increasingly relied on social networks and mobile devices to find and buy merchandise. Online sales also grew strongly outside the US, accounting for 10% of all retail sales in Great Britain last December according to the British Retail Consortium with the biggest area of growth on mobile devices.
However consumer trust remains fragile and new TRUSTe research to coincide with Data Privacy Day #DPD2013 shows ongoing concerns about privacy and the ability to protect personal information online.
The research findings in the US and Great Britain were similar with both revealing that consumer mistrust and the potential negative impact on business is growing compared with 2012 findings. 43% of internet users in both the US and Great Britain don’t trust companies with their personal information and 89% of internet users in the US and 91% in Great Britain said they avoid doing business with companies where they have privacy concerns.
Concerns Rise Where the Stakes are Highest
Online shopping and using social networks top the list of both US and British online privacy concerns: 89% of US and 88% of British internet users worry about their privacy when shopping online and 87% of US and 86% of British internet users worry about their privacy when using social networks. Some of this retail concern may be due to the fact consumers visit a wide range of sites for online shopping, frequently for single transactions, and have to take a new leap of faith each time. (more…)
