Retail Success Launchpad: The Importance of eCommerce Website Security and Performance

Understanding the New Retail Landscape

Today’s retailers are operating in a market where consumers are becoming increasingly savvy, increasingly sure of what they want, and increasingly demanding of anyone they purchase from. User experience is everything – 53% of mobile users abandon websites that take more than three seconds to load. Your website’s uptime, performance and security are essential elements of the user experience you deliver.

Any downtime can be costly – Amazon’s one hour of downtime on Prime Day in 2018 may have cost it up to $100 million in lost sales. With many retailers pivoting to online sales and contactless payments in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it’s essential to ensure that proper consideration has gone into compliance and security – especially as cybercriminals have increased their focus on the retail sector in the hope of stealing valuable credit card information.

The Importance of eCommerce Website Security

As you prepare your ecommerce website for the peak trading period, cybercriminals will be preparing to target it. Retail was one of the most targeted sectors for cyber-attacks in 2020. Data is the new currency for cybercriminals, who focus not just on money and goods but also customers’ personal data that can be stolen and sold online.

Cybercriminals target retailers both remotely and at their operating locations, such as stores and warehouses. Attackers often target point-of-sale (POS) systems, installing malware that steals credit card information when the POS system is used. They will also target ecommerce websites and the databases that sit behind them, searching for weaknesses they can exploit to steal personal data that can then be sold on the black market.

Ransomware is one of the most popular cyber-attack methods that cybercriminals use to target retailers in 2020. And the relatively new trend for double-extortion ransomware attacks, in which attackers threaten to leak stolen data onto the internet in order to shame target organisations into paying a ransom, introduces a significant reputational threat to retail businesses, too.

In such a turbulent operating environment, your retail business must take the necessary steps to ensure you mitigate the risk of data breach resulting in financial, operational and reputational damage.