On-demand is a high wire act.
The need for speed is critical. In the age of the “Amazon Experience,” customers now more than ever, expect instant gratification. For those companies acting as intermediaries (for example Drizly who delivers liquor on behalf of merchants), balancing consumer expectations while maintaining reliable internal processes can be challenging. While a seamless customer experience is key, minimizing chargebacks for the merchants is also central to maintaining trust in the process. The group agreed that real-time, automated and accurate decisioning to authenticate each transaction and customer touch point, was key to retaining customers and maintaining trust with their merchants.
“Friendly Fraud” continues to be a challenge for all.
Whether it’s coupon, policy, or returns abuse, almost all attendees had a story to share about how consumers “gamed” the system. We find that businesses often won’t take into account the impact “friendly fraud” can have on their bottom line. Examples shared included using multiple email accounts to take advantage of restaurant promotions or returning clothes worn only once (“wardrobing”), to abuse the system.
Growth brings its own challenges.
With a number of private companies in the room, the correlation between funding announcements and elevated fraud attempts was a hot topic. In this instance, the rise in Account Takeover (ATO) attacks was a particular challenge. As companies grow and show potential, they are likely to become targets for new forms of fraud and abuse. If merchants do not have scalable fraud prevention solutions in place, their systems simply will not be able to keep up and protect their growing consumer base.
Seasonality is here to stay.
Peak periods aren’t just limited to the holidays. While the holidays in general are always a hot topic, some of the attendees talked about events including new shoe releases and big sporting events where they saw increased consumer traffic. These types of events could lead to an increase in transaction volume by as much as 10 – 15 times the normal rate. This not only impacts the transaction decisioning from a fraud perspective, but also puts more stress on the fulfillment of orders and the processing of returns.
This event certainly led itself to a wide-ranging and lively discussion. We’re going to be hosting similar meetups around the country and I hope you’ll be able to join us – more to come on timing for these over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you – feel free to email me at [email protected].
