Blog

The words “global ecommerce” are thrown about very easily these days.  The words “cross-border ecommerce”, not so much.  They are related, but they are also are very different ways in which merchants can conduct business globally.  So, what does it matter to merchants?  That all depends on whether a merchant wants to cater to customers directly in certain countries – or if they want to have a single presence with a single marketing message and sell the same products to all its customers.  If a merchant has the bandwidth to support multiple web sites (in various languages), various distribution channels, and offer multiple payment options, cross-border ecommerce would be the path to take.  Continue reading "Going Global – Is Ecommerce The Same for All Merchants?"

It seems that not a week goes by without a data breach being in the news.  Breaches occur a lot more than we realize – even affecting small businesses such as medical offices and single location restaurants.  However, only the big ones make headlines.  Hackers today have found various ways to obtain private and sensitive consumer data – and merchants are not all to blame.  Continue reading "Can You Protect Your Customers From Outside Data Threats?"

How is the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) addressing data security for mobile payments?  Well, they are working on it, but not fast enough.

The smart phone application market is booming with some very clever and useful tools.  However, this open source development wave is also enabling the creation of mobile payment applications that may not be secure enough to protect sensitive data.  Continue reading "Where Are We With PCI Compliance and Mobile Payments?"

Having an e-commerce site is no longer just about a building an attractive and interactive web site.  If merchants want to reach mobile consumers, they need to include various options, which include mobile-optimization and mobile apps.  Mobile optimized sites are, in simple terms, a scaled down version of a web site, optimized for viewing on a mobile phone.  Mobile apps are much more involved and require app-enabled smart phones.

In order to make sense of which option is best, merchants should take a step back and put on their consumer shoes. Continue reading "How Important is a Mobile Site for E-Commerce Merchants?"

Last month’s blog discussed the concept of leaving your wallet at home and using your mobile phone to make payments and purchase items.  This seems to be a hot topic as more retailers gear their services for smart phone users.

A few weeks ago, Starbucks officially announced their mobile application, Starbucks Card Mobile app, available on the iPhone, iPod touch and select Blackberry phones.  Not wanting to wait for Near Field Communication (NFC) to come to full use (NFC requires a lot more than two way communication between the mobile phone and the retailer), Starbucks decided to utilize existing technology, 2D barcodes, for their new app. Continue reading "The Mobile Payments Revolution – An Interim Solution"

As smartphones and open source mobile applications gain popularity and usage, consumers are relying more on their mobile phones to shop.  The market is flooded with applications giving consumers the ability to compare prices and make purchases, either at physical retailers or online, while on the go.  In March, Portio Research estimated that mobile payment transactions will reach over $633 billion by 2014.  According to ScanBuy, barcode scanning was up 200 percent in 2010.  Continue reading "Can You Start Leaving Your Credit Cards At Home?"

Okay, so these may not be all that ‘secret’, but it seems as if sometimes they are.  Some online merchants are so focused on the business side of their business, such as adding new products and services, integrating security policies for data protection, modifying their web site or sending out email promotions, they don’t realize that if it weren’t for customers buying their products or services, they wouldn’t have a business at all. Continue reading "Secret Rules For Successful E–Commerce"

Of all the consumer protection laws coming into play, finally some legislation is being proposed for data security breaches.  When a data breach occurs, you see it in the news is mostly for <positive> public relations reasons.  Companies issue press releases about data breaches to protect themselves and to stay in the good graces of their present and future customers.  If they didn’t reveal such information, it would eventually be discovered and the company would be faulted for not reporting it.  There are consequences either way, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sees legislation as a way to force companies to be more proactive. Continue reading "FTC Taking Action Against Data Breaches"

As I discussed earlier this year in my book, Beyond Plastic, using your cell phone to make contactless payments may finally become a reality in the U.S.  AT&T and Verizon are indeed encroaching into the electronic payment space, possibly creating a real threat to Visa and MasterCard.   Continue reading "Mobile Contactless Payments May See Light in the U.S."

Visa, who has always been the strictest association regarding PCI compliance, data security, and cardholder protection, has set the pace again.  Merchants who accept multiple card types are required to follow the strictest card operating guidelines, which usually come from Visa.  They issued series of mandates requiring its acquirers to ensure that their U.S. merchants, VNPs, and agents use only PA-DSS compliant payment applications and that PIN pads connected to Visa’s network use triple DES (triple data encryption standard technology).  The final mandate in this series went into effect on July 1. Continue reading "Merchants: Are Your Vendors PCI Compliant?"