During the childhood of many millennials, the online world was in its infancy stages. With a decent amount of this age group remembering a time without internet access, it’s likely this may have contributed to their cautious nature when it comes to online identity and payment security.
As such, TransUnion’s new research shows the millennial generation is much more cautious than other generations when it comes to payments security as a whole. While it was discovered that 68 percent of millennials halted online transactions due to iffy payment security, Gen Xers were a bit less hesitant, at 54 percent, and a mere 28 percent of baby boomers felt the need to be cautious.
Verified third-party payment resources like PayPal are seen as the go-to secure payment technology across generations including millennials (64 percent), GenXers (62 percent) and baby boomers (52 percent). While eCommerce is in full force in today’s economy, it’s likely that retailers that don’t have a verified third-party as part of their purchase transactions have the possibility of losing business.
What may be the issue for most is not only secure online payment options but the fear of stolen identities. To help protect against identity theft, TransUnion’s vice president, Heather Battison, shared that consumers should do the following: Monitor for identity theft; lock credit; choose mobile over plastic; use secure, trusted storage; and set fraud alerts.
Constant vigilance is a big necessity when it comes to the online arena, and there will likely always be some form of breaches occurring on various levels. As the commerce world moves forward and people across generations become more comfortable with quickly identifying trusted sources, there’s a chance that we may see online transactional hesitation decrease.
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