Mobile – an increasingly important channel for merchants

The same source unveils that mobile is already an increasingly important channel for merchants, with 86% of respondents declaring they will have mobile capabilities in place by the end of 2014. Moreover, almost two thirds (63%) already support mobile in some capacity and over half (55%) of merchants with annual revenues greater than USD 50 million currently offer a dedicated mobile website, while 66% support a mobile app for online shopping.

Research also point out that the sectors most actively supporting mobile already are mass merchants (91%), gaming (82%) and books/music/video (76%). On the other hand, sectors that are not currently as mobile friendly are insurance (50%) and telecoms (63%), with merchants surveyed in these sectors still only in the planning stages of developing support specific for mobile.

Findings show that the most common obstacle cited by merchants embracing mobile was being able to ensure an easy transaction process for consumers. However, the survey results suggest that the mobile market is maturing, as concerns over the ease of transaction were down by almost 8% in 2013, while fraud and security concerns both showed similar shifts in the opposite direction. Overall, more than half (51%) of merchants revealed that they viewed the fraud risk in the mobile channel as higher than standard ecommerce in a 20% increase on the previous year.

When it comes to mobile security, Don Bush, Vice President of Marketing at Kount, mentions that the perception of risk can be greater due to the nature of certain products and service. Ease of payment is understandably a top concern, with merchants keen to avoid payments friction caused by slow payments processing and fraud prevention systems. In the digital age, customers want transactions to be instant and secure, which requires a fast, reliable automated payment and fraud protection system.

The Mobile Payments & Fraud Survey 2014 Report highlights the growth, opportunity, obstacles, preferences and priorities identified by almost 2,000 payments and/or fraud professionals. The study has been released in association with The Fraud Practice and CardNotPresent.com.