52 percent of UK consumers think fraud is an inevitable part of shopping online

According to the Lost in Transaction report, 60% of consumers are willing to accept any security measures needed to eradicate fraud, while 65% are open to the introduction of more secure payment processes such as two-factor authentication.

By contrast, 32% of UK businesses believe their customers would go for tighter security, and 59% think longer verification processes increase their risk of losing customers. In fact, only 1 in 10 consumers abandon online shopping carts due to a long payment security process, while the most significant driver of abandoned carts is hidden transaction fees and delivery charges, according to 43% of consumers.

One further key issue highlighted by the report is the trade-off merchants face when balancing risk and revenue generation, with 69% of businesses surveyed want to increase customer sign-ups and transaction volumes by reducing risk thresholds for ID verification. However, 78% also want to produce more effective verification measures to reduce fraudulent transactions, a potential conflict with their revenue ambitions. These conflicting views exist even though transactional fraud is a top priority in the boardroom, according to 77% of businesses. Additionally, 42% of merchants say that 5% of their transactions are fraudulent. In this context, 8 out of 10 businesses expect to increase spend on fraud in the next 12 – 24 months, typically by at least 10%.

Lost in Transaction is an independent research project commissioned by Paysafe and supported by the Loudhouse. The research report was completed by surveying 300 businesses and 3038 general consumers in September 2017 the UK, Canada and the USA about their attitudes to fraud, security and payment methods.