As anyone who’s had any amount of access to the modern internet probably knows, shopping online is an unbeatable experience. A world of purchase possibilities from all over the world awaits at one’s fingertips, ripe for the taking. Indeed, it would seem on the surface level that the internet has brought with it a new, easier way to shop, but the truth is that online purchasing is not without its own hurdles. Most of these issues lie in the matter of payment, the fallout of purchasing mistakes like that that of the lengthy credit card chargeback process. That says nothing of the dreaded, but entirely possible credit card fraud that can happen when one’s financial information is entered in an insecure site. As such, there are pros and preventable cons to shopping online as the following illustrates.


1) More People Shop Online Now Than Ever Before


Online shopping has become extremely popular in recent years, as the numbers show. In 2013 alone, 73% of internet users had made at least one online purchase. Purchases done online and on mobile devices are only expected to skyrocket in the 5 years, likely reaching 125,000,000,000 transactions by 2018. Even now, global e-commerce sales are generating $1,200,000 every 30 seconds. That likely equals increased chances of online customers having to go through the credit card chargeback process from time to time. The doubling numbers also provide more incentive for online merchants to provide secure payment options.


2) Online Shoppers Expect Quality


Perhaps even more than face-to-face shopping, online shoppers expect a good, secure experience, though this definition differs a bit for an online shop. At least 60% of millenials claim to expect consistency in their shopping experiences whether they’re interacting with the store in person, online or on the phone. Online merchants can promise their customers consistent payment security with things like chargeback protection to make the credit card chargeback process a bit easier to navigate. Incentives like these can be vital for a store’s success, given that a customer on average will visit as many as three stores online before making a choice of what to purchase. Furthermore, 51% of customers claim to abandon an order if shipping options aren’t fast enough and as many as 61% say they would to the same if a shop didn’t offer free shipping. Clearly, the world of online shopping is a bit more cutthroat with the endless amount of options at a customer’s disposal.


3) The Risks of Online Shopping


Wonderful though it may be, online shopping is not without risk to the customer. Without good, secure payment systems the possibility of financial infiltration is increased. As many as six out of 10 customers are worried at any given time about credit and debit card fraud from shopping online. Beyond getting irate customers, a merchant stands to benefit further from making sure their payment processing solutions are secure. Credit card losses amounted to as much $16,310,000,000 for card issuers and merchants alike in 2014, which was a 19% increase from the year before. Frustratingly enough, this is the fourth year in a row fraud losses have superseded growth in total card volume.


Hopefully, merchants will consider ways of improving security going forward.