A recently released survey shows retailers and payment industry professionals universally believe mobile revenue will continue to grow substantially, with projections varying considerably by industry and company size.
These segments also approach mobile payments and fraud protection differently from one another, according to the Mobile Fraud Survey conducted by Kount, The Fraud Practice, and CardNotPresent.com.
“While everyone who participated in the survey believed that mobile was an area of considerable opportunity, it still represents a small amount of their overall business today,” noted David Montague, president & executive consultant, The Fraud Practice LLC. “Interestingly, views diverged from there based on revenue, company size and industry. For example, smaller businesses were more likely to accept mobile payments while also being the most concerned about having fraud solutions in place to grow this channel.”
Conducted from October to December in 2012, the Mobile Fraud Survey had more than 400 participants spanning payment experts to online retailers representing nearly every sales channel, with revenues ranging from less than $5 million to more than $50 million. Their perceptions formed a number of notable takeaways about the future of mobile payments, including:
- 29% of businesses estimate that 10-20% of their sales will come through the mobile channel by 2014
- Smaller merchants expect more growth in the mobile channel and are almost as likely to have a mobile app for online shopping as merchants with annual revenues greater than $50 million
- Retail segments expecting the biggest growth with mobile are Jewelry, Digital Goods and Gaming
- Merchants of all sizes think that making it easier for consumers to transact is the most important factor in growing mobile adoption.
“While retailers are focused on the growth of mobile transactions, the survey results indicate many are unprepared for the fraud that will inevitably follow,” said Don Bush, vice president of Marketing at Kount, one of the sponsors of the survey. "To fully capture the potential of mobile, retailers need an all-in-one fraud solution that not only minimizes risk but opens up new opportunities for growth. Retailers with comprehensive fraud protection can confidently evolve their business into new channels and meet their customers wherever they are."
Similar to mobile growth forecasts, the survey also showed that fraud protection varied considerably indicating a need for a more robust solution:
- At present, 55% of merchants cannot detect whether a transaction originates from a mobile device
- While more than half of merchants cannot detect transactions initiated from mobile devices, nearly 60% believe it’s “important” or “very important” to have this capability.
- Merchant size impacts which tools it uses currently and which tools it plans to add in the coming year, as 20% of merchants with annual revenues between $10 and $25 million consider managing fraud risk the biggest obstacle while less than 2% of the largest merchants surveyed (many of which have a solution in place) consider this a problem.
"Clearly we’re still in the early phases of a mobile revolution, but this survey reinforces that every retailer believes in the potential and growth of this payment channel,” said Steven Casco, founder and publisher of CardNotPresent.com, the only publication focused entirely on card-not-present payments. “While the approach and adoption level may vary by a retailer’s size and industry, the Mobile Fraud Survey is a great barometer of what’s to come and how retailers need to prepare to operate in a rapidly changing card-not-present environment. We’ll take a deep dive into the report’s findings during a general session at the CNP Expo, in Orlando May 20th–23rd.”
The Fraud Practice LLC provides training and consulting services on e-commerce payments, fraud prevention and credit granting to help businesses build and manage their fraud and risk prevention strategies. CardNotPresent.com is an independent voice generating original news, information, education and inspiration for and about the companies and people operating in the card-not-present space. Combining their industry insight and expertise with Kount, a leading provider of fraud prevention technology, helped provide a thorough analysis of one of the most dynamic and challenging environments facing online retailers today.
The survey is now available at www.kount.com.
