The Shocking Stat About Online Authentication

Even though online shopper authentication systems—including Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode—have been around a long time, a newly-released survey suggests that only 57 percent of retailers are bothering to use them.

“The report, based on a survey of 443 worldwide merchants, acquirers and payment solution providers, card associations, issuers and fraud and e-commerce service providers, found that North American retailers—which dominate the sample set—brought down the percentage of retailers using consumer authentication; only 43 percent of North American merchants use consumer authentication, far less than those in the European Union (61 percent), Asia-Pacific (61 percent), South America (55 percent), Eastern Europe (56 percent), Middle East (64 percent) and Africa (62 percent),” said a story in Internet Retailer. “The report also found consumer authentication is more common among retailers selling expensive goods or services. For example, 53 percent of jewelry e-retailers use consumer authentication, as do 50 percent of computer and electronics merchants. On the other side of the spectrum, only 33 percent of books, music and video retailers use the technology, as do 31 percent of those who sell toys.”

Of those who do use online authentication, the story said, 83 percent use Verified by Visa and 75 percent use MasterCard SecureCode.