Merchants to balance frictionless checkout with increased payments security

Over two thirds of US merchants (69%) reported that significant amount of company time and expense is dedicated to dealing with payment fraud. Nearly eight-in-ten US merchant respondents (77%) reported that their companies experienced some type of fraud over the course of being in business, and their efforts to manage security are impacting their businesses’ bottom lines.

At the same time, the survey found that customer expectations for ease and convenience during checkout are increasing. While examining the evolving landscape of online and in-store payments in the US, the survey highlights the need for payment technologies that can meet both merchant and consumer expectations. Technologies like EMV contactless payments and EMV Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) are identified as capabilities that can help solve these pain points and improve both the customer experience and business operations.

While merchants look to enhance payment security, consumers have a desire to speed up the checkout experience, putting ease and security of checkout at a crossroads. 62% of customers surveyed said they have left a store without making a purchase after waiting too long in line to pay, while 85% have left items in their cart, without completing the online transaction.

Contactless is an emerging favourite as a consumer payment option, with one quarter (26%) of consumers having used contactless at least once within the past six months, a figure that is likely to increase as more contactless cards are issued in 2020 and as a growing number of merchants in the US accept contactless payments.

The majority of merchants responding to the survey are interested in the benefits of other innovative payment security solutions like biometrics, tokenization, and more. They overwhelmingly agree that requiring a one-time password for additional security to complete a purchase (77%), biometrics (76%), and tokenization (70%) are effective in preventing fraud.