In recent years, e-commerce has become a key sector for Latin America and the Caribbean. Financial analysts believe digital transactions will soon outnumber physical transactions. Between 2016 and 2019, the number of people making online purchases increased from 126 to 156 million, and this years’ online sales reached US$80 billion compared to US$40 billion in 2016.
Parallel to this growth, consumer expectations are also increasing. They increasingly demand highly secure online payment experiences that are easy to use. Everyone involved in e-commerce (businesses, government, and consumers) is facing new challenges to improve these practices.
Because of these new consumer behaviors, companies have had to develop and implement a range of technological instruments and tools to provide solutions to these new challenges. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says commercial policies that reduce development barriers at the national and regional level are needed. The objective is to proactively increase online security “by promoting the adoption of the latest technologies, helping to reduce fraud, and guaranteeing a better consumer experience,” said Jeff Wilson, Executive Vice President of Services at MasterCard.
One solution the bank industry is working on consists of creating authentication and tokenization technologies. The latter converts credit and debit card numbers into a unique and non-transferrable number that protects the owner’s financial data. Additionally, MasterCard announced that they will launch a new fraud detection service for businesses this year; it is based on an artificial intelligence system designed to measure the risk level of each transaction and therefore speed up the payment process.
Cloud payment technologies such as ApplePay or Samsung Pay are other solutions still being developed. Thanks to these, companies can incorporate greater flexibility and security into their online payment processes, improving the consumer experience and without putting security at risk.
With the increasing amount of people carrying out their transactions online, brands must anticipate their customers’ needs to continue developing tools that make e-commerce activities safer and easier.