As part of a global trend, Americans are increasingly shopping online for products and services. With more and more transactions and payments happening online, the potential for mistakes as well as hostile attacks by hackers are also increasing. Payment gateways offer an extra layer of security for online transactions with verification and authentication of online transactions.

Global e-commerce is growing

Across the board and in all age groups, Americans are increasingly researching and buying products and services online. By 2014, two-thirds of all Americans over 50 years of age reported shopping from e-retailers online.

This is part of a global trend. Globally, every 30 seconds e-commerce sales generate $1.2 million. And according to a 2015 report from Juniper Research, by 2018 online and mobile purchases will have grown to reach 125 billion transactions annually.

While this expansion means greater convenience and choice for consumers, there are concerns for security and fraud prevention. Secure payment is a major concern for consumers and merchants alike and 6 out of 10 consumers who shop online report being concerned about credit card and debit card fraud.

Secure payment options for merchants and businesses

The concerns for security are justified. In July 2015, it was reported that credit card fraud losses incurred by card issuers, merchants, and cardholders totaled $16.31 billion in 2014, a figure that represents an increase of 19% over 2013. And for the fourth successive year, losses due to credit card fraud were higher than the increase in total card volume.

Secure payment solutions that enable verification and authentication of purchases are important for merchants and businesses that process online transactions. For any business that handles payment processing online, this service gives customers and merchants a payment gateway where orders can be processed, confirmed and verified.

It helps to eliminate problems like extra chargebacks associated through the product, the service or product not being delivered or not received, and consumer claims that the product was not ordered at all, in the first place. Any changes or modifications to purchases by customers can be recorded. Payment gateways allow for a smooth transition for service and product delivery.