TrustArc is proud to support the development of the Online Trust Alliance’s (OTA) 2015’s Most Trustworthy Online Retailers through our privacy technology and analysis. The list, announced today, comes after a thorough audit and evaluation of each website’s best practices in brand and consumer protection, security, and privacy.
More than three-dozen data attributes are weighted in the audit to determine if a company is following the OTA’s best practices. TrustArc’s technology was leveraged to rank each online retailer based on privacy best practices.
“As more devices become connected in the IoT era, companies must proactively take steps to protect consumers and be transparent in how this vast amount of data is collected and used,” says TrustArc CEO Chris Babel.
“TrustArc is dedicated to developing cutting-edge technology to analyze and identify privacy-centric online retailers for inclusion in OTA’s Honor Roll while helping businesses navigate the emerging IoT market and build consumer trust.”
The 2015 Top 10 Most Trustworthy Online Retailers
Thorough assessments were conducted for 500 of the largest online retailers. More than three-dozen data attributes and criteria were evaluated. Based on the analysis, 2015’s top 10 most trustworthy online retailers (actually, 11 due to a tie) are:
-
- American Greetings
- Cabela’s
- Foster & Smith
- Fanatics
- GameStop
- The Honest Company
- Jomashop
- Kate Spade New York
- LivingSocial
- Netflix
- SparkFun Electronics
42% of the 500 largest online retailers qualified for OTA’s Honor Roll.
45% failed. Of that 45%, 27% failed due to inadequate privacy policies, failure to provide disclosure and/or overly aggressive data collection with third parties without controls (down from 34% in 2014).
The Honor Roll is now in its 7th year. The OTA maintains that annual privacy and security audits are necessary in a continuously and rapidly evolving sector such as technology.
The OTA, a 501c# non-profit organization, continues the audit with the goal to promote and accelerate the adoption of consumer protection-enhancing best practices and a commitment to self-regulation.
On June 16th, the OTA will announce the 2015 Online Trust Audit & Honor Roll, an annual audit of nearly 1,000 websites. Read more about the OTA’s Industry Best Practices.