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:
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#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.
