Retail Decisions reports a 23% increase in H1 turnover.
Online fraud is rarely out of the media these days. Although it accounts for only around 2% of the GBP189.4 million of fraudulent transactions made on UK payment cards in 1999 (APACS), the costs must be met by eMerchants. So demand for a solution is high.
Retail Decisions’ 23% increase in turnover, announced at the end of last week, reflects how it has successfully capitalized on this demand. It sells software that analyzes card usage, looking for changes in spending patterns that could indicate fraudulent card use. Other companies have capitalized on eTailers’ fears. Orbiscom has signed significant deals with AIB Bank and Marbles to provide software that generates a unique card number for each transaction, eliminating the risk of online card number theft.
While many companies are benefiting from the necessity for Internet security, their achievements may be short-lived. Although the need to cut online fraud is pressing, other forms of cardholder-not-present fraud and skimming are much more costly. Solutions which have applications both online and off-line, such as Retail Decisions’ pattern spotting software, are likely gain greater success in the long-run than their niche online rivals, which could be largely superceded by the introduction of smartcards and PC smartcard readers in the next three years.
