The FIDO Alliance has collected evidence that suggests that online retailers are losing customers and sales as a direct result of friction in the online shopping process. Passwords were especially problematic in that regard, with 58 percent of consumers reporting that they abandoned a sale because they could not remember a password, or because they would have had to create a new one to open an account to complete the purchase.
The results are based on a survey of 1,000 US consumers. Twenty-eight percent of those respondents would not set up an account with a retailer specifically because of the hassle associated with remembering a new password, while 40 percent would not sign up because they did not want their financial information to be stored on a third-party database. That reluctance is bad for business because it makes it more difficult to turn one-time shoppers into repeat customers.
“Many common online retail practices, like setting up new passwords and accounts, are being rejected by consumers and consequently are hurting retailers’ bottom lines,” said FIDO Executive Director Andrew Shikiar. “Retailers need to remove needless friction from online transactions, or run the risk of losing customers to the competition.”
With that in mind, FIDO goes on to make the case for passwordless authentication protocols, and for on-device biometrics in particular. The survey showed that most consumers would prefer to use face or fingerprint recognition when authorizing a transaction, and that they believe that biometrics are generally quicker and easier to use than alternatives like One-Time Passwords. Roughly 60 percent of the respondents also believe that retailers that offer on-device biometrics care more about security, privacy, and the customer experience.
Those trends were most pronounced with younger Americans. Those between the ages of 18 and 24 were the most likely to adopt on-device biometrics.
The Alliance noted that e-commerce has increased due to the lockdowns associated with COVID-19. Its concerns echo those of companies like NuData, which has warned that online retailers will need to improve their security and their customer experience to retain customers after the pandemic.
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