Hans Nipshagen, Regional Sales Leader Web and Security
MEA and Eastern Europe, Akamai Technologies
industry unlocked
As one of the industries most vulnerable to
cyberattack, those operating in retail need to make
good cybersecurity practice a priority. Industry
experts talk to Intelligent CISO about how retailers
need to do more to align their cybersecurity
measures with customer expectation.
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Cybersecurity is a new source of competitive
advantage for retailers.
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That’s according to a report by Capgemini’s
Digital Transformation Institute, which has called
for more organisations to align cybersecurity
policies with customer expectations to take
advantage of this opportunity.
The report, Cybersecurity: The New Source of
Competitive Advantage for Retailers demonstrates
that consumers are increasingly aware of security
breaches in retail and are willing to spend
more with retailers who demonstrate robust
cybersecurity capabilities. Based on average
annual consumer spending, this equates to a
potential annual revenue uplift of 5.4%.
The new report, which surveyed more than 6,000
consumers and 200 retail executives, found
that 77% of consumers ranked cybersecurity as
the third most important factor when selecting
retailers, behind product availability and quality
and above traditional factors including pricing
and brand reputation.
Strong cybersecurity measures increase
customer satisfaction by 13% while 40% of
consumers would be willing to increase their
online spend by at least 20% more with retailers
they trust. The report revealed that retailers who
can adopt advanced cybersecurity measures
could drive a 5.4% uplift in annual revenue.
However, the report identified a disconnect
between the assurances consumers want
and what retailers are doing. A total of 70% of
consumers want to be assured that their
financial and personal information is
safe yet only 44% of retailers are actively
informing them.
Retailers are also not adequately
informing their customers of data
breaches. A total of 40% of retailers
said they experienced a data breach
over the past three years (2015 to 2017
inclusive) and had customer financial
or personal data compromised, yet only
21% of consumers say that they heard
their primary retailer’s name mentioned
with a data breach.
“Cybersecurity represents a lucrative
opportunity for retailers to improve
customer satisfaction and drive higher
online spending,” said Tim Bridges,
Global Sector Lead, Consumer Products,
Retail and Distribution at Capgemini.
What do other industry
experts say?
Hans Nipshagen, Regional Sales
Leader Web and Security Middle
East, Africa and Eastern Europe,
Akamai Technologies
With the increased frequency and
visibility of data breaches, the impact
of an attack for any online business is
much more than the loss of revenue
through site downtime or even the fines
from lost customer data – it’s really
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