60 Percent Of Shoppers Say Payment Security Is Inadequate

Current retailer security for protecting credit card and personal information isn’t strong enough. That’s the takeaway from a Bizrate survey released on Tuesday (Feb. 3) that found 60 percent of consumers said payment security is inadequate at brick-and-mortar stores, websites and mobile commerce sites and apps.

The results of the survey, which was done in January with 4,902 online shoppers, didn’t vary much by shopping channel: 62 percent agreed that payment security “isn’t strong enough” in brick-and-mortar stores, while 60 percent said the same about e-commerce sites and 65 percent said mobile-commerce transactions weren’t adequately protected.

Shoppers under 35 are significantly less concerned about the security issues — only 45 percent were concerned about the security of in-store payments, 47 percent on websites and 51 percent on mobile. Among shoppers between ages 35-50, 61 percent were concerned about in-store payments, 59 percent online and 63 percent on mobile. From ages 51-65, 69 percent worried in-store, 65 percent online and 71 percent on mobile, while those over 65 worried most about brick-and-mortar payment security (77 percent), with 70 percent concerned about websites and 76 percent about mobile.

Asked why they were worried, almost half (43 percent) cited news reports about retail data breaches such as those at Target, Home Depot and Staples. But one in six (17 percent) said their own information was stolen, while 12 percent said they “don’t believe that the store will take good care of me if there is a problem” and 10 percent said they just don’t trust companies, employees or technology.

And while customers have consistently returned to brick-and-mortar stores eventually after a widely publicized data breach, 29 percent said they were reluctant to make purchases from brick-and mortar stores and 34 percent expressed reluctance to buy online. (Remember, these shoppers were all surveyed immediately after making an online purchase.)

But some retailers and payment companies scored higher for trustworthiness. Amazon, PayPal and Wal-Mart scored highest when shoppers were asked, “Which retailers do you trust the most with your credit card and personal information?” However, the second most common response — right behind Amazon — was “none.”