Retail shops of all sorts and
sizes are getting ready for their busiest time of the year with the holidays
just around the corner. As consumers become more immune to holiday marketing
and gimmicks, brands are finding new ways to catch their customers attention.
Many retail giants such as Kohls and Target are utilizing mobile marketing to
better engage and tend to their on-the-go shoppers. Outside of mobile ads and
sms promotional programs, many retailers have developed mobile apps to make
shopping experiences faster and technologically savvy. Many of these apps
include full access to the stores catalog and even are connected to a mobile
payment function that allows the consumer to order the item right then and
there. Target
just recently came out a mobile app that allows users to buy and send digital
and/or physical gift cards to their holiday lists. These gift cards are just
some of the many that can be purchased through Passbook.
While these new features increase
the efficiency and ease of holiday shopping, it can also increase the risk.
With mobile apps (not just Targets) that are directly connected to a mobile
payments platform, users need to be weary about just throwing their personal
information in their phones for conveniences sake. Mobile payment platforms
are not always the most secure in ensuring that personal information (PI) isnt
getting shared out. On top of platform insecurity, physical theft of
smartphones can more dangerous than ever before. Many apps store PI in order to
make repeat purchases easy and fast, but that also means that the buying power
is in the hands of the person with the phone with their hand, even if its not
theirs. With stores being busier than ever, holiday shopping season is a prime
time for thieves to swipe phones from distracted shoppers. While phone
passcodes will help to prevent some of this fraud from happening, companies
offering mobile shopping solutions need to invest in fraud prevention
solutions that will keep their reputation and customers safe from mobile
shopping fraud.
[Contributed by EVS Marketing]
