Let’s face it – from the start of 2020, till today, there have been unprecedented surges and changes globally and we have witnessed a massive shift towards online shopping because the pandemic impacted the world in ways we could not have imagined.
Lockdowns, business closures, self-imposed isolations and quarantines saw people resort to online shopping because it was one of the only ways for sustenance, provision and protection. There really was no other option other than online shopping that meant survival.
Here are some interesting statistics that explain the shift to online shopping in the past 18 months:
- 59% of people shopped online during the pandemic because they did not want to interact with others and maintain the social distancing norm.
- 50% of people shopped online because many non-essential businesses were closed.
- 30% of people felt that it was more viable to shop online as they could buy more products at one go in one store.
- 26% of people shopped online because they were under quarantine or self-imposed isolation.
- 14% of people shopped online because the items they wanted were available only in e-commerce stores.1
The bottom line of these statistics is that online shopping is a shift that is here to stay and is likely to be irreversible.
Over the past 18 months of the pandemic, as businesses changed, so did consumer behavior2. The past few months saw more and more consumers being open to adopting digital payments as it gave them the convenience to buy all that they needed with minimal interaction. It is only a matter of time before online shopping using digital payment methods becomes a new normal because safety takes precedence over anything else. This is another reason that websites selling online understand the importance of safe payment gateways.
Online shopping during the lockdown
Lockdowns, over the past year and a half, have seen a surge in higher in-home consumption. With people resorting to online buying, it becomes necessary to offer a seamless shopping experience from start to finish to translate them into happy and repeated customers. Not just a good payment experience, but a secure and safe online payment experience should also be offered by the seller to provide an extra layer of security to consumers.
Online shopping is becoming a thing of convenience for many. Especially for those who don’t have the time to step out of their home, but want to have everything delivered.
The emergence of hyperlocal partners invaded every alley in the city and ensured timely deliveries of almost everything; from books to food and more. They garnered more popularity during the pandemic because of their easy availability. There is almost everything that gets delivered today, from fresh fruits and flowers to prescribed medicines and more.
Most of the ecommerce platforms offer a variety of payment options like COD (Cash on Delivery) or online payments using UPI or debit and credit cards. With most people resorting to online shopping, it becomes important for the merchant to provide a secure payment gateway that gives assurance to the buyer. Let’s look at some aspects of why it is important to have a safe payment gateway.
Importance of safe payment gateways for online transactions
A payment gateway helps to enhance the overall performance of your business. It is the one-stop-shop where payments are made in return for goods and services that are purchased. The importance of safe payment gateways can be judged from the benefits:
Easy Checkout
Did you know that close to 40% of consumers can cancel their purchase if the payment method is tedious or involves too many steps? An easy checkout always offers a seamless experience to a customer. A start-to-end experience that makes online shopping as easy as possible.
Impulse purchase
In continuation with the first point, close to 40% of consumers are likely to indulge in an impulse purchase if the payment process is easy and integrates with the shopping cart.
Multiple Options
Other aspects that consumers consider in a payment gateway are prevention of fraud management, an option of recurring billing and multiple payment options.
Security
Payment gateways on websites provide secure transactions by complying with security standards like PCI DSS, etc.
Apart from the points listed above, it is critical to pay attention to the importance of safe payment gateways for online transactions when consumers shop online.
What are some of the factors to consider when doing this?
Convenience
While digital payments are meant to be convenient, they also need to work for consumer interest; which broadly translates to convenience and security. When convenience causes restrictions, it can hamper the growth of the economy as it means lesser consumption and buying.
Stakeholder Interests
Stakeholders or consumers should be able to make informed decisions when it comes to making a purchase; and this process should be easy, not cumbersome. The end motive is to not drive out consumers from the digital space, but for consumers to contribute to the economy.
Fraud Prevention
With customers being informed 24 hours in advance the chances of fraudulent auto-debits are reduced considerably. It allows customers to know what the amount was getting debited for.
Secure Transactions
It is no longer about adding the card details and continuing with transactions – a certain limit of transactions still needs approval by adding the CVV/expiry date or an OTP. The goal of digital transactions should be – straight, secure, simple, fast, and the regulation should ensure this.
With these security measures in place, safe payments for online shopping, transactions and e-commerce websites can be ensured. With secure payments, a consumer feels a sense of safety that enables them to buy online.
In order to make these transactions more secure, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came out with certain regulations to help a shopper secure online payment.
What are the RBI regulations all about?
While all the above-mentioned factors provide security, in the second half of 2021, Reserve Bank of India set up a rule that on October 1st, 2021, all previously set auto-debits would cease to exist in an attempt to control fraud and phishing. With this mandate in place, all linked auto-debits ceased to work, until the user re-registered themselves and every transaction needed to be authenticated by a pin or a CVV along with a 24-hour notification to ensure there was no scope for malpractice. The advanced notification for executing recurring payments authorized by customers was to seek approval to carry out any transaction – an extra layer of security to ensure the safety of all transactions.
Even though these rules ensured safety, for many these payment processes could come across as less convenient. Especially for those who want to shop at the go or for senior citizens or just you and me, adding the card details for every single transaction can be cumbersome.
While the main focus of the regulation by RBI was security, it is important to note that most e-commerce platforms already adhere to PCI DSS standards. According to these standards, this data storage and access by third parties can be protected under Indian Laws rather than imposing a hard stop restriction on websites.
Adding authentication layers at every single stage for consumers (reauthorization or reauthentication) is likely to mar the shopping experience for them. It can, in the worst-case scenario, drive them away from the digital ecosystem, which runs contrary to India’s Digital India goals.
While there is a greater good in regulations that allow the consumer to control the payments, it is also important to ensure that these regulations are consumer-friendly. At the end of the day, the importance of safe payment gateways for shopping needs to be aligned with the purpose of providing a seamless experience to the consumer.
References
Completely agree. The new regulations should be consumer friendly too. It should not be a hassle while shopping online. Great article.
Thanks! I stopped shopping online for a bit because the whole process was so cumbersome!
Payment security and compliance is important for customers. If a specific payment gateway is unsafe it can lead to customers card data being shared in the wrong hands. Well written!
Thank you for stopping by! Yes an unsafe payment gateway can be an unsettling experience.
Every consumer experience needs to be safe,secure and easy.I trust those eCommerce platforms which give me multiple options for payment.I believe seamless shopping experience is crucial.This post gave me a lot of things to ponder about.
#EcommerceBuildsEconomy
I am so glad that it helped you Amrita! 🙂
This is such an important blog post. Though we have become so used to buying online, it is important that we are careful with online transactions, however, the entire process needs to be streamlined for the consumer.
Absolutely Aesha and when you have that cyber protection in place, it makes shopping an enjoyable experience.
Very nicely put, while securing our payment options is only going to help us, we also need to keep in mind the convenience that we would give up by adding more layers to it.
Yes Atul, a win-win situation is what we need for a seamless shopping experience.
Those are some insightful statistics. I come under the 59% category!
We all come under percentages according to the stats!
Thanks for this. Makes it easier to understand and figure out what sites to trust with payment details.
Yes, and Amazon has always been my go-to website for a seamless shopping experience.
Yes, online shopping is a major shift and for the better!
Yes and it is here to say, so that is why sites like Amazon make shopping a better experience.
There should be a balance between the regulations and consumer friendliness. Only then they help everyone. Wonderful article.
Thank you for liking the article and I completely agree with what you say.
One must know what’s happening to all the data that we share with websites, especially payment and bank details.
Yes that is true and most websites like Amazon ensure that the data is safe and protected to enable better shopping.
It’s imperative that shopping portals keep the shopping experience for people as seamless as possible.
100% agree! That is what makes shopping a better experience,
The easier it is for the consumer to buy the more growth will be seen in the ecommerce sector.
Yes, ecommerce will always give the economy a boost.
In the recent times, haven’t we all become addicted to the convenience of online shopping?
Yes and I guess more so with the pandemic getting the world to a standstill. Amazon was such a life saver!
Yes, people started to buy everything online as small businesses were closed due to pandemic.
Yes, and that is what boosted the online shopping making it easy for us to shop at the convenience of our home, while staying safe.
It’s true that online payments have become secure today so people have shifted to online shopping
Yes, that is the beauty of online shopping, safe and secure.
I know how people avoid physical transactions and hence follow online shopping
I have moved to online purchasing whether it means going hyperlocal or local.
Online shopping is here to stay and when e-commerce platforms like Amazon offer a good experience, shopping becomes easier.
Thanks for sharing this information, Pratibha. The statistics showing different reasons for rising shift to online shopping is actually true.
Thank you for finding the article informative. With the new normal here to stay, online shopping will be a way of life.
People prefer online shopping today as they are in self-quarantine and taking safety steps to interact with others.
Absolutely. And what better way than getting all that you want at the click of a button!
An online business is best judged by how wasy it is to check out items from the bag
Yes, that and how easy is the process from the buy stage to the payment stage. It should be without any hassles and should be easy.
I always get super nervous about entering my bank details online. We need safer payment gateways.
Absolutely. Safe payment gateways offer a good experience when it comes to shopping and that is why I trust Amazon for its fantastic experience.
Online shopping has lately become a blessing for so many of us
How I agree! And since it is here to stay, shopping needs to be a seamless operation.
I think reauthorisation of payment details is a good step.
Once is good as a safety measure, but multiple times can deter a buy.
It’s a great thing that ecommerce platforms take care to bring better deals and to retain their customers.
Absolutely and when it comes to having a safe payment gateway, it is totally a win-win situation for me.
It’s always great when an online shopping platform like Amazon offers different methods of payment.
And reliable too! That makes Amazon the best online purchase platform for me.
I’ve been reading up about the changes the RBI are implementing and they honestly just seem so backward minded at a time like this. Trying to slow down a perfectly functioning engine.
I know! When the whole world is moving to online, instead of making it seamless, its is more complicated!
The pandemic accelerated the tilt towards a more digital world and changed the way consumers use e-commerce and digital solutions. The acceleration of online shopping necessitates that the consumers have a seamless shopping experience while keeping the safety of their particulars in mind. #ECommerceBuildsEconomy
Absolutely right!
Convenience, greater choice and a secure e-commerce payment system pushes the consumers towards online shopping. However the experience must be seamless and hassle free as well. #ECommerceBuildsEconomy
I agree with you, online shopping can become an enormous hassle if one has to enter multiple validations. At the same time, the fear of being cheated online looms large. I am glad you suggested the safe payment gateway option in your blog post. Thanks for writing this one! Very informative, indeed!