Electronic merchants are losing over $5 billion in digital commerce revenues due to the lack of safer and more convenient payment options for consumers, according to a recent study from Payment One.
    For the third straight year consumers indicated a willingness to spend more online if given safe, convenient payment options beyond a credit card. Once again, more choice in payment options was the overwhelming driver of purchase behavior.
    Consumers are increasingly interested in using payment options that are safer and more convenient than credit cards, according to PaymentOne:
    Among younger consumers aged 18 - 34, over 81 percent indicated they would buy more, reflecting their desire for safer and easier payment alternatives. Forward-thinking digital merchants are adopting improved payment strategies, and many have started to use payments as a value-add revenue driver — something very well developed in the offline world. Yet many online merchants still maintain ambivalence to the importance of payment, which is counter to actual consumer preference.
    Despite aggressive campaigns by merchants and card companies, fraud and identity theft concerns still loom large for a significant number of consumers, and hinder online shopping growth. According to the survey:

• Fifty-four percent of those polled curtail their online shopping due to fears that their privacy or financial information (or both) will be abused or stolen.
• The top concern (28 percent) is that information will be either intercepted during a transaction or accessed by unauthorized parties.
• In addition to credit card holders who had significant concerns about buying online, 16 percent of consumers stated that they were not able to transact online because they did not possess a credit card.

    “The major finding of the poll — that the availability of secure and convenient payment options beyond traditional credit and debit cards can drive significant incremental purchases — indicates an outstanding opportunity for online merchants to grow revenue through the introduction of payment alternatives,” said Bruce Cundiff, Research Analyst for Javelin Research, which conducted the poll on behalf of PaymentOne.
    The poll data shows that there is a major, yet overlooked content revenue opportunity for network operators and merchants. Nearly half of consumers are willing to spend more for monthly services simply due to the convenience of using their existing billing relationship. As part of the poll analysis, Javelin calculated and PaymentOne extrapolated the potential revenue impact of this type of billing relationship as $5.5 million in lost revenue and more than 10 million potential subscribers annually.
    Consumers are increasingly interested in charging digital content and services to an existing trusted bill. In fact, when asked specifically which existing bill they would like to add small purchases to, consumers overwhelmingly pick their existing phone bills.
    Over 50 percent of decisive consumers would prefer to add online charges to their existing phone bills (local, mobile) instead of credit card.
    The inclination to migrate small purchases to phone, wireless or broadband bills is particularly strong among consumers 18-34 years of age.
    Existing local and mobile phone bills are generally trusted, easy methods for consumers to utilize for making digital goods and services purchases.
    Since phone service is considered a necessity by most, it’s one that the typical consumer will not allow to lapse. These existing billing instruments are especially attractive because they reduce the need for consumers to establish multiple, separate billing relationships, and do not require them to repetitively disclose sensitive information across multiple sites for small purchases.

    Many merchants have long wanted the ability to merge their output from in-store video surveillance cameras with their database of POS transactions to determine whether employees are voiding receipts, pocketing money from the till, or giving customers sweetheart deals.
    However, they were either put-off by the high cost of sophisticated surveillance systems, or limited by RS-232 serial cabling (to connect the POS terminal to the IP camera). In response, LAVA developed the DataTap-IP as an alternative that is simple to connect; costs a fraction of the price of all-inclusive surveillance systems, and gives merchants a clear view from their till.
    Serving as an Ethernet link between a POS station and a printer, the LAVA DataTap-IPTM taps into a serial printer’s data stream and performs data-splitting and routing functions. This permits transaction data to be ported to and printed out onto a serial printer, while simultaneously sending text for overlay onto images captured by any DVR. Transaction images can be viewed on end-user networks or the Internet—any time.