Two of three consumers would stop shopping with brand/merchant after ecommerce data breach

Over the past few years, data security has become an increasingly serious worry for today's consumers and business alike. The recent uptick of ecommerce shopping over the pandemic not only increased fraudulent activity but also increased consumer awareness to fraud. As consumers spend more time making digital purchases and the news continues to broadcast major data breaches, consumers will grow more concerned about their personal data.A recent study conducted by PYMNTS and NuData was created to help merchants ensure that their customers will feel confident while shopping online. Within the study are some shocking facts. The key takeaways include:

Consumers hold businesses accountable for data breaches

“Sixty-five percent say they would not go shop with a given merchant again if their personal data were breached”. That’s two in every three shoppers that would not come back to you, if you had a data breach. The expectation is that consumers' transactional data will be kept private, with no tolerance for breaches or hacks. The lower the consumer's income, and/or higher the consumer's age, the less likely consumers will come back to shop with you if your business faces a breach.

Protecting personal data is a top consideration for shopping with a new merchant

Two of three consumers also require that their personal data is protected when choosing a new merchant to shop with. “Fifty-nine percent of all consumers cite personal data protection to be an important factor influencing their shopping decisions.”

Ecommerce consumers prefer manually entering in their info via guest checkout

Although consumers value speed when checking out, they more often use the slower process of manually entering in their information vs. using a digital wallet or account. According to PYMNTS’ report, 71% of ecommerce shoppers enter their credit or debit card info manually via guest checkout.

When offered the option, digital wallets are gaining traction on guest checkouts

68% of all ecommerce shoppers are using digital wallets to pay in guest checkout. The majority are using Paypal. This number reflects US Consumers which explains why it trends higher to Paypal vs Apple or Google pay.

About 60% of all consumers are shopping more online than pre-pandemic

Millennials and Gen Z make up for the largest proportion of this group.

67.5% of consumers use their preferred payment methods for online shopping because they are “easy and convenient to use”

Consumers value convenience over speed. Guest checkout is a convenient way to pay with many consumers using digital wallets as they believe it reduces their risk of their data being stolen.

Is ignoring security measures to protect your ecommerce site worth losing consumers?

Absolutely not. Imagine losing 65% of your business because of a data breach, on top of consequences such as fines, tarnished reputation, and other financial obligations that may arise from the breach.For more info please find the report here.It goes into much further depth about which generations or cohorts exactly are influenced by data breaches and shopping security.