Stricter security regulations unsettle online stores

From September 14, all online stores in the EU will have to confirm all purchases over 30 euros via 2-factor authentication - shopping with one click will then be a thing of the past. This is reported by the SonntagsZeitung in its current issue. The change is intended to make life difficult for fraudsters. As is already standard in online banking, in the future a user name and password will no longer be sufficient to make purchases. Additional identification via SMS or fingerprint is required.

Customer friendliness and convenience often suffer under increased security measures. Many retailers therefore fear a loss of sales. The SonntagsZeitung quotes Shane Happach of Worldpay in the British business newspaper Financial Times. He says the effects of what is actually a good idea are "catastrophic." Neither the providers of the payment technologies nor many large online retailers have yet noticed how complicated the plan is, he says. One study predicts damage of 57 billion euros for 2020 alone.

Although Swiss online retailers are not directly affected by the new EU law, the introduction of 2-factor authentication is also an issue in this country. In contrast to Happach, however, the major Swiss online retailers seem to be relaxed about the change. Brack.ch finds the new security standards "commendable" and assumes that they will also be applied in Switzerland sooner or later. Digitec Galaxus believes it is already prepared for this and points out that 2-factor authentication has long been used for credit card payments (3-D Secure).

Interesting: Digitec Galaxus has been offering 2-factor authentication for login voluntarily for two years. According to the Swiss market leader, however, less than one percent of customers log in this way. This shows: At least on the customer side, they didn't wait for the tightening of security.

Thomas Lang from the e-commerce consulting firm Carpathia also fears this. Shopping on the Internet is thus becoming less attractive, which is "annoying" for online stores, he tells the SonntagsZeitung. He fears that the security measure will increase the proportion of customers who order by invoice - it currently accounts for around 80 percent of all online purchases in Switzerland. Unlike the other payment options, payment by invoice will be excluded from the new security standards.

Swiss customers will be affected by the EU changes in any case, predicts the SonntagsZeitung. The reason: Many smaller online stores in particular could not afford to offer an extra sausage for Swiss customers in the future. This is in stark contrast to online giants such as Zalando - the fashion retailer still wants to spare Swiss customers with Swiss credit cards the additional authentication.