Networking technologies are transforming the retail industry. A digital-first strategy can enhance your in-store customer experience, it can help you build and expand your online presence and brand visibility. While this may be good for sales, it may also attract the attention of hackers looking for a new target to exploit.
They can gain access to your servers, data, and customer information with a simple spear-phishing email disguised as legitimate correspondence. This blog will inform you about the need for cybersecurity protection in the retail industry.
The Modern Retail Industry
Because of the global pandemic of covid-19, global online retail sales skyrocketed in 2020 as more consumers began shopping online. Even now, consumers all over the world are spending money, their shopping habits have shifted to online, and the demand for this has increased.
So, the retailers need to be ready for these various technological trends and advancements to keep their businesses competitive as well as safe from the impact of cyber security.
Why it is important for a retailer to adopt this digital transformation?
Traditionally, a retailer is someone who sells products or services on a large scale, but this has changed dramatically in the last few years. It is a simple fact that different age groups have different shopping expectations as consumer expectations have changed. Consumers from all over the world want things to be quick, easy, and simple. Buyers nowadays have a basic shopping tendency to want a specific product the way they desire, where they choose it, and specifically in the channel of their preference.
By stating ‘channel’ we mean it could be online to your house, it could be on your mobile device, it could be bought online, pick up in-store or buy online, pick up at curve. Making things easy for that new consumer is certainly the trend and that’s what retailers are trying to figure out, that’s where the retailers need to focus their efforts on serving any channel anywhere.
The second thing to highlight is that e-commerce is at its boom, fifty percent of the retailers are seeing their sales through online channels. So not the consumer’s expectations have changed but the online channels have also forced the retailers to serve the consumers in a different way.
What are the ways retailers are under cyber threats?
Consumers’ expectations have changed the way they want to shop, how they want to shop, where they want to shop and when they want to shop. The whole shopping experience has now changed especially after the impact of coronavirus. The coronavirus has forced the consumer to figure out so many different ways to shop, whether it’s shipped to your house, it’s shipped to your store, or whether it’s contactless. So e-commerce is where the threats are coming from, as fifty percent of retailers are increasing their online sales.
Secondly, there are bad bots or e-commerce scalping in the world of online shopping. It occurs when we are in need of a product and some cyber thieves take advantage of this by writing a bot to take that entire product from the retailer’s inventory. So, when other customers try to buy it, they can’t, and then the cyber thieves sell it at a higher price.
Another example is mobile app hijacking, which occurs when we look at our mobile device and see a lot of apps from our favourite retailers. Cyber thieves are taking advantage of this because that is where the consumers shop.
Retailers Need Cybersecurity for Supply Chain As Well
We are well aware of the consumer expectation chains as well as the challenges e-commerce has but to optimize the efficiency of retail business one need to consider other things as well and that is the supply chain.
So many retailers with stores closed and inventory being so precious are relying on a best-in-class supply chain to get the products to the consumers as fast as possible. The increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of the supply chain can be done by implementing automation, sensors, and various other technologies.
This will surely boost the productivity of the business but there is an increase in the chance of real big exploitation when it comes to vulnerability perspective. Supply chain risks are at an all-time high, in fact, there’s a report which states that fifty-seven percent of internet of things (IoT) devices are susceptible to attack. Hence, this is another area of exploitation for retailers.
Conclusion
To sum up, with a boom in the retail industry, retailers are under a lot of pressure to meet the demand and expectations of the consumers. To do so, the retailers are relying a lot on technologies. There are various technologies in the tech world and each of these technologies provides some type of benefits but not to mention with the implementation of advanced technologies the risk of exploitation also raises. To avoid such exploitation one should always implement cybersecurity in their business.
Cybersecurity will give the retailers safety, security, and a sense of sustainability. This will make them do business fearlessly and confidently.
Are you looking to implement cybersecurity into your retail business? If yes so please feel free to contact us at support@aeologic.com
