Transaction Trends

As e-commerce continues to grow, survey results reported by American Express explain how U.S. consumers will take extra steps to protect their personal and payment information.

The “2016 American Express Digital Payments Security Survey” interviewed 1,021 U.S. consumers and 401 merchants. More than half—60 percent—of merchants reported experiencing fraudulent online sales, and 25 percent said incidences of online fraud have increased this year. Participating merchants said an average of 31 percent of online transactions in the past year were abandoned before the sale was completed.

On the consumer side, 48 percent who shopped online in the past year experienced payment fraud. Four in 10 consumers deemed online shopping as riskier than in-store (28 percent). In addition, 42 percent of consumers have abandoned an online purchase due to payment security concerns. The study also showed that abandonment levels skewed higher among younger Gen X and millennial consumers.

Other findings from the survey include:

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Nearly eight-in-10 online consumers (78 percent) are willing to enter their card’s security code; 57 percent of merchants require it.
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While 70 percent of online consumers would answer security questions, 43 percent of merchants have that feature on their websites.
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More than two thirds of online consumers (68 percent) are willing to create a one-time password; 37 percent of merchants require a one-time password.
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For consumers to trust an online merchant, 84 percent want easy-to-find customer service contact information, and 78 percent want visible security cues on a merchant’s website.
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Fifty-two percent of merchants use data encryption on their websites.