Computop finds 76 percent US, UK consumers plan to shop online in current holiday season

For the overall holiday shopping season in 2016, 55% of respondents planned to spend the same amount online as in 2015, with 19% planning to spend more. With regards to Cyber Monday, it was an even split in the US, with 50% noting they plan to shop online then, and 50% saying they won’t. The difference was much greater in the UK, with 77% of respondents saying they won’t shop online on Cyber Monday.

When asked about purchasing products online from retailers outside of their own country this holiday season, 50% of respondents were not interested in doing this as they have enough options domestically. An additional 22% noted that they were concerned about the security of their payment data beyond their borders. When asked whether they are concerned about security when disclosing their credit card and bank information online, 74% of respondents overall agreed, with 45% of those strongly agreeing.

When shopping online, 71% of consumers confirmed that they check if the site has certificates like eTrust and SSL Certificate from Verisign, with 42% strongly agreeing that they do this. In addition, 61% of shoppers confirmed that they have checked the liability policy of their preferred payment method provider or bank in the case of fraud.

When it comes to shopping at retailers that have recently experienced a data breach, more than half of respondents, 57% in total, agree that they would not shop with them, with almost a third, 31%, stating that they strongly agree that they would avoid that retailer.

While consumers have these security concerns, they aren’t necessarily interested in changing their behaviors to protect themselves. For example, when shopping online, consumers can opt to use retailers that offer in-store payments so they don’t have to disclose their financial information. Despite this, 41% of respondents indicated that they prefer not to. Also, when respondents were asked if they prefer to browse online and purchase in-store, again avoiding the need to submit financial details, 38% did not agree with doing this.

In addition, 51% of respondents confirmed that they did not have an insurance epolicy protecting them from liability in the case of credit card and/or banking fraud.

In the US, 59% trust their credit card most, with 35% opting for PayPal and 27% choosing their debit card. UK consumers trust PayPal more, with 50% selecting this option, followed by credit card (38%) and debit card (33%).

When asked which security authentication features respondents would consider setting up for online purchases in the next 12 months, 35% said they would set up fingerprint IDs, 12% selected retina scans, 7% chose voice recognition and 2% noted pay-by-selfie -- but 41% of total respondents said they wouldn’t choose any of the above.

26% of respondents are concerned that their biometric data could be spoofed, and 11% do not trust biometric data for payment authentication. 30% prefer their banking PIN and TAN to authenticate their payments and  only 19% of consumers surveyed felt that the benefits outweigh the security risks when it comes to sharing their biometric data for payment authentication.