As the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology, cyber threats such as ransomware attacks grow. Retailers are particularly vulnerable, as they often store sensitive customer information and financial data at the checkout (point of sale).
The true cost of cybercrime
Cybercrime will cost companies worldwide an estimated $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion in 2015. At a growth rate of 15% year over year, cybercrime represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history (Source: Embroker).
Hackers often target the payment systems in the retail and grocery industries due to the high frequency - and value - of transactions. For enterprise retailers with a high number of transactions, an attack can generate millions in lost revenue: A survey by the National Retail Federation found that the average cost of an hour of checkout downtime is $500,000 for large retailers. Furthermore, it will likely cause frustration with customers and reputational damage.
Whether it's ransomware attacks or another factor related to technology such as the internet going down or communications systems not functioning, retailers without an alternative way to register items and take payment are at risk.
One way retailers can protect themselves from these risks and add a different layer of security is having a backup system in place to process payments.
– Just in the last few years, we have seen this type of attack on multiple retail businesses across the Globe. There’s an increased pressure for companies and merchants to protect themselves and at the same time review how to spread the risk of not being able to take payment, says Olof Henriksson, CRO, FocalPay.
Key benefits of having a backup system
Peace of mind
Minimizing risk of lost revenue
Reducing the downtime
Minimizing legal impact
Protecting customer information
Safeguarding financial data
Retailers can choose from a variety of backup solutions for their checkout systems, ranging from cloud-native, physical, or hybrid solutions.
- Focalpay’s cloud-native checkout and payment platform has the obvious advantage of cloud, meaning that no local installations on any hardware or software are required. With physical or hybrid solutions, staff will be required to re-install systems across each device, which is time consuming and expensive in the long run. Furthermore, our software is both hardware- and software-agnostic, meaning that it can be used on any hardware, and connected to any software (such as ERPs/payment providers etcetera).
Management teams at retailers should start thinking about how they will take payments if their current POS and payment systems go down or get hacked, and that’s exactly what one of Focalpay’s customers did.
- Our solution has been rolled out to one of Sweden’s largest retailers, and they currently use Focalpay as a backup. With our digital payment and checkout, this retailer has peace of mind that they have a solution available in the event of their current checkout system going down. They don’t risk losing millions in sales or damaging the brand, as they know that they will always be able to process purchases, says Olof Henriksson, CRO at Focalpay.
Security through innovation
Focalpay’s commerce platform protects retail operations through a variety of ways, and also enables innovation on a new level. Brand new shopping journeys are created, as we have broken down the boundaries between the checkout and payment processes. Our platform has checkout and payment flows in the same product, which means less hardware costs, less software costs and improved security.
– The future lies in independent mobile payment solutions to process the payment. By managing payment processing in the cloud, both store associates and customers get more freedom to complete a transaction either inside or outside of the store - which reduces queues and improves store operations, says Olof Henriksson, CRO at Focalpay.
In conclusion, retailers need to take the threat of ransomware attacks seriously and consider having a backup system in place for their checkout. This will not only provide peace of mind, but it will also minimize the risk of lost revenue, protect customer information and financial data, and ensure that the checkout system can continue to operate in the event of a cyber attack.
Want to learn more about how Focalpay can help protect your checkout processes? Get in touch with our team below.
contact@focalpay.se