Three Online Retail Trends And Predictions For 2019
By Monica Eaton-Cardone, Chargebacks911
NRF’s Big Show is the place to be every year for the latest insights and data in the retail sector.
It’s always a fascinating experience. NRF attracts tens of thousands of attendees, but each person can interpret the information shared at the event differently. Based on what I observed, there a few key trends and predictions to watch for in digital retail in 2019:
#1. Conversational And Voice-Enabled Commerce On The Rise
Customers love the personalized experience offered by conversational commerce. Buyers can contact support, check out recommendations, make purchases and much more through messaging apps and other social platforms. However, managing customer interactions on a one-to-one basis with live personnel is completely unrealistic.
It might sound a little strange, but the key to customer comfort and accelerated growth with the conversational approach is automation. Taking a hybrid automated/live approach to service is already a popular solution. In fact, about 85% of customer interactions online will be conducted without a human service provider by 2020.
Continued adoption of devices like the Amazon Echo is a trend to watch in 2019 and beyond, too.
The portion of users who complete transactions through these devices remains very small. That said, roughly 1 in 5 owners of an Alexa-enabled device use the technology to track order information or research products. These tools may help bridge the gap between conversational commerce and more traditional buying methods in 2019.
#2. Potential For Another Round Of Blockchain Adoption
There was an incredible amount of excitement around retail blockchain adoption in late 2017. While a sagging cryptocurrency market made many skeptical of the technology this past year, 2019 may bring on a renewed interest in blockchain platforms.
Blockchain technology holds tremendous potential for supply chain management, tracking products and shipments, and managing inventory. With this model, you can instantly recall stored information and verify that information against a single, historical record. No more cross-verifying information against different sources.
Of course, the upfront costs of building a blockchain system from the ground up can be a barrier to entry. Smaller players in the market won’t feel comfortable investing in a massive reconfiguration of their processes when the technology still has limited widespread adoptions to serve as test cases. If one or two major players sign on in 2019, though, I expect blockchain adoption will accelerate rapidly.
#3. Specific Fraud Tactics Will Be Obstacles
Remember: fraud isn’t some monolithic problem. It’s more like a body of related yet independent sources of loss, with some tactics representing a greater threat than others.
Account takeover fraud, for example, increased 122% between 2016 and 2017. We haven’t seen the exact figures yet, but the trend is likely to have continued in 2018, and it will still be a problem going forward. However, the tools you use to try and validate transactions, like address verification, CVV verification or other mechanisms, are not necessarily effective against account takeover.
Another persistent problem going into 2019 is friendly fraud. The jury is still out regarding Visa Claims Resolution’s effect on the broader chargeback landscape. Based on existing trends, though, losses attributed directly to friendly fraud could surpass $27 billion by the year’s end.
Going through 2019 with only a handful of isolated antifraud tools is not going to cut it. It’s more important than ever you adopt a comprehensive, multi-layer strategy to contend with fraud.
An acclaimed entrepreneur, speaker and author, Monica Eaton-Cardone is widely recognized as a thought leader in the FinTech industry and a champion of women in technology. She established her entrepreneurial credentials upon selling her first business at the age of 19. When a subsequent e-Commerce venture was plagued by chargebacks and fraud, Eaton-Cardone developed a robust solution combining human insight and agile technology. Today, these innovations are used by thousands of companies worldwide, cementing her reputation as one of the payment industry’s foremost experts in risk management, chargeback mitigation and fraud prevention. As CIO of Global Risk Technologies and COO of Chargebacks911, Eaton-Cardone leverages her global platform to educate merchants on best practices in fraud prevention and to spotlight the competitive and economic advantages women can bring to the technology workforce.