E-commerce businesses have grown massively over the past years: many buyers all over the world tended to shop online more or less regularly. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the situation in the shopping industry…forever. Both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar were somehow affected, as the interest in online shopping has soared dramatically.
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E-commerce Gone Wild
Let us have a look at just some of the drastic and unprecedented statistics for 2020:
- – According to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index, U.S. online retail businesses have abruptly grown by 49% in April, compared to the pre-lockdown era at the beginning of March. Online grocery shopping has grown by 110% daily!
- – According to Narvar, 56% of buyers have tried a new shop during the lockdown period
- – According to eMarkete, Amazon e-commerce sales increased by 39.1%, Best Buy by 105.5%, Target by 103.5%, and Kroger by 79.2%. Those were the biggest sales figures ever posted for the aforementioned companies.
- – Amazon affirmed that the 2020 holiday online shopping season was the biggest ever. This was confirmed by many other retailers.
As for 2021, e-commerce will obviously keep its glorious march, regardless of pandemic and vaccination developments. eMarketer predicts US online shopping sales to grow to $843.15 billion (up from $794.5B in 2020).
What About Security?
The lockdowns and restrictions have forced most of the consumers to adjust their way of living choosing internet shopping from home, in a safe and familiar environment. But is it safe to shop online? Online retail was always accompanied by some risks: damaged or unexpectedly low-quality goods, dishonest sellers unwilling to refund, etc.
However, we will concentrate on the most important problem faced by e-commerce business owners and their customers: cybersecurity. Online retail has always been and will always stay the hottest target for cybercriminals, and of course, the unprecedented success faced by e-commerce businesses in 2020 could not elude the hackers’ attention. Why? Simply because personal data is becoming one of the most valuable assets. The convenience of online shopping was particularly important during 2020 lockdowns, but the more people shop online, the more it attracts hackers. According to Cyberpion, 83% of the top 30 US retailers are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Apparently, both the online stores and the customers are affected. To buy something online, the customers need to provide their personal data to the online store. They must entrust their credit card information, e-mail address, usernames, passwords, etc. Cybercriminals can steal that information from the online store database to make money. At the same time, if the clients’ personal data is compromised, it can completely ruin the company’s reputation, as the store will be held accountable both to the clients and to the entities regulating the industry.
Cybersecurity is a big responsibility. E-commerce business owners need to be very serious about online safety. They just cannot afford to lose their customers’ data and their company’s reputation. Of course, many online retailers are aware of cybersecurity threats and are taking the necessary measures to guard against those. According to the VMWare Carbon Black 2020 Cybersecurity Outlook Report, 77% of eCommerce business owners have acquired new security tools, while 69% of them have invested in the cybersecurity workforce.