08-19-13 | Blog Post
InternetRetailer.com recently reported that ecommerce sales have increased to 18.4 percent, as estimated by the U.S. Commerce Department in Q2, bringing online sales back to their pre-recession growth rates. Comparing Q2 2013 to Q2 2012, ecommerce sales rose to $65 billion compared to $54.7 billion, the largest year-over-year increase since before 2008.
Much of the growth in online retail sales are attributed to the largest retailers, including Wal-Mart and Amazon, rising 30 and 29.6 percent in online retail sales, respectively. According to ChannelAdvisor, a few major areas that have propelled retail growth include mobile commerce, social media, global ecommerce and more consumer brands online.
The development and use of mobile payment apps may have made purchasing a lot easier and readily available to consumers. From in-app rewards to incentivize increased consumer use to app marketing via email, mobile ads and social media, Dunkin’ Donuts is one example of a franchise foray into the mobile commerce sphere. With consumer engagement high on the list of objectives to increase sales, the company’s app features a store locator, coupons and mobile cards that can easily be used to buy coffee and food, according to MobileCommerceDaily.com.
With the advent of mobile commerce increasing online sales, mobile data security should be top of mind for app developers that may have to deal with credit cardholder data. While new data security standards are being released in November to revise and strengthen the current PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) and the PA-DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standard), the industry has released security recommendations for both merchants and developers to meet mobile device payments (including smartphones, tablets or PDAs).
Data encryption is highly recommended and required for those that need to meet PCI DSS. With the use of a third-party PCI hosting provider, app developers can ensure any data collected or transmitted will be encrypted in transit and at rest with a PCI private cloud.
Find out what else a complete PCI DSS compliant hosting solution requires in our PCI Compliant Hosting white paper that outlines the requirements of a PCI compliant data center, from redundant networks and power to technical security tools like vulnerability scanning and web application firewalls and more.
References:
E-commerce Returns to Pre-Recession Growth
Q2 Surge in E-Commerce Heralds a Bright Future
Dunkin’ Donuts Drills Down on Location to Boost Mobile Payments App
