Will people trust the Internet enough to transmit their credit information over it? What about hackers?
The media has made a great deal about hackers stealing credit card numbers off the Internet. In fact, there are no substantiated stories of that happening. It could happen, of course, but apparently it isn't really the problem people imagine.
In fact, people do stupid things with their credit cards all the time and think nothing of it. Like handing it to a waiter in a restaurant, or to a minimum-wage gas station clerk at an all-night station. Or giving the number over a telephone, especially a wireless or cellular phone.
But it's not reality that's important, it's people's perception. And until people feel safe, they won't purchase as much over the Internet. Yet, I believe we are on the verge of a great surge of on-line purchasing, and now is the time to get positioned for it. Right now we have three factors which make on-line shopping increasingly attractive:
SSL Security
At least 90% of Web surfers use a Web browser capable of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security, according to people who keep such statistics. When a person using Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer browser connects with a Web site which is running an SSL Secure Server, all the information transmitted by the customer is scrambled and encrypted. Can the code be broken? Sure, but crooks that smart aren't out there collecting credit card numbers. They're breaking into Swiss bank accounts.
 No matter how good your products are, if your customer doesn't trust your system with credit card information, you won't make a sale on-line. |
and the key becomes whole (what wonderful symbolism these Netscape people have conjured up), and a blue line appears at the top of the viewing area. If you're serious about getting on-line orders, you also need to invest in using an SSL secure server. Some Internet Service Providers are offering this for $10 to $20 per month more than their regular Web hosting charges. You may also have to secure a digital certificate which identifies you as the merchant you claim to be. For that you may have to pay a $350 set-up charge, as well. But if this is the basic equipment to be taken serious as a Web merchant, then go ahead and fork it over. (Check, though, to see if you can use your ISP's digitial certificate for your order page. It might save you securing your own.)
Virtual Wallets
Some clever entrepreneurs are now offering a secure way of promoting commerce on the Web. CyberCash, DigiCash, First Virtual, and others have various systems by which the customer sets up an account with just a single Internet company -- for example, CyberCash -- and gives them the credit information. CyberCash, then, confirms to merchants who are set up with this system that the customer indeed has credit. The merchant accepts the CyberCash, and the sale is made. However, very few Web surfers have signed up for a virtual wallet, so the system doesn't help much. Visa and MasterCard
The main credit card companies, supported by a number of on-line software giants, are now coming up with Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) for the Internet. When these are released you need to make sure your shopping cart program will support them. They will allow your credit card number to be encrypted so that no one can read it -- not you nor a merchant. Only the bank or merchant's credit card service will have the decryption code. I predict that when those standards are finalized and then supported by Web browser software like Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer, we will see a wave of consumer confidence in purchasing on the Internet, resulting in a flood of on-line commerce. Now is the time to get ready for that wave!
In spite of SSL security and Cyber Cash, some customers may prefer to print out a completed order form (or have one e-mailed to them), and consummate the transaction by phone, fax, or snail-mail. Some shopping cart programs such as SoftCart support that approach, too.
But you need to know that if you rely on phone, fax, and snail-mail you'll miss a great number of customers. People are now buying on-line -- even at unsecured Web sites -- because it is so convenient. On-line store owners suggest they might lose 80% of their sales if they had to rely on conventional ordering approaches, since those may dampen the enthusiasm of impulse buyers. Lesson: make it easy and safe for your customers to order on-line.