Automated bots operated by malicious actors are costing businesses an average of 3.6 percent of their annual revenue. For the 25 percent worst affected businesses, this equates to at least $250 million every year. Even more concerning is the time it takes to discover these attacks. On average, more than 14 weeks pass before a successful attack is detected.

Cultivating repeat customers is a critical necessity in the continuing customer shift to mobile-first interactions for a potential product or service purchase. Digital CX tools help level the playing field by providing SMBs the same advantages put to use by their larger counterparts to solidify the customer experience and create repeat business.

Businesses are flocking to software-as-a-service applications as a means to improve the efficiency of their operations and the productivity of their employees, but weak control of access to cloud apps is putting the data of many organizations at risk. According to a study by DoControl, the average 1,000-person company using SaaS apps is exposing its data to between 1,000 and 15,000 external collaborators.

In its simplest form, Fast provides the answer most anticipated by e-tailers. That is, how do you put a checkout button on any page on the website, even if it is not directly on the e-commerce store? "By using a headless checkout solution, retailers are able to convert any digital screen into an opportunity to buy products and engage with shoppers," said Allison Barr Allen, COO and co-founder of Fast.

This year's back-to-school season is a true "Back to School!" that's driving increased spending and demand for clothing, school supplies, computers, athletic equipment, and other products. To successfully navigate the chaos, shoppers will turn to reviews from their peers who have first-hand experience with these products.

For e-commerce businesses that are seriously considering a new source for brand awareness and customer acquisition, TikTok can be an unbeatable advertising investment, according to Dariya Smailova senior digital media buyer manager at Vendo. The platform allows e-commerce brands to remain visible and present within the always-watching customer lifestyle.

E-commerce and m-commerce are transforming the economic landscape. Both markets were steadily growing before the pandemic. But since then, consumers have been fueling both types of commerce with a frenzy. We thought this would be an appropriate time to speak with Logiq CEO Tom Furukawa about opportunity trends in digital commerce, and the role of market intelligence in the global commerce space.

The impending loss of third-party digital cookies will soon force the e-commerce advertising industry to shift its strategies fast. These developments are issuing a real blow to advertisers seeking to leverage third-party data. At issue now is how brands will regroup from these substantial changes to online advertising.

Because they live on the ecosystem of mobile devices, people expect their apps to be user-friendly and instantly accessible. To attract and keep users, apps must deliver a seamless, simple, and intuitive experience. We spoke with experts in the fields of apps and CX to get their take on what makes for a winning app design, and where commerce apps are headed in the future.

A new e-commerce trend catching on as the pandemic stranglehold on consumer access to brick-and-mortar stores loosens is converging shopping with playing games as a source of entertainment. One good example is Tophatter. This retail discovery marketplace where shoppers go to spend time, rather than to save time, is what its CEO calls the "anti-Amazon."

Shouldn't you get paid when businesses use your personal information gleaned from the internet? How much is your personal data posted online worth to you? Would you register your personal data so that you get paid when companies track you and use your own data to target you for ads? That is precisely what Invisibly lets you do.

The magnitude to which retail stores recover when consumers fully adjust to post-pandemic routines may well hinge on the shopping experiences they offer. A new study of consumers in the U.S. and UK shows that the majority of shoppers today view customer experience as one of the most important factors when making purchasing decisions.

Consumers will spend more money shopping online this summer in response to ads they see on social media if deals are offered by vendors. Shoppers also are more receptive to chat commerce, a potential new trend. New research by Smartly.io, a social advertising automation platform for creative and performance marketers, underscores the role social media plays in influencing shoppers in a world changed by the pandemic.

E-commerce merchants are literally at the mercy of the digital checkout systems tied to their web stores. For retailers, what happens on the other side of the "pay" button is critical to avoiding denied approvals. Online payment service provider Credorax peeled back the curtain for the E-Commerce Times to reveal the ins and outs of what happens behind the pay button.

Remote work appears to be here to stay. More than 25 million work-from-home jobs could be created in non-technology industries in the coming years, according to a report from Upwork. Professional services are involved in essentially every part of the economy, which means that there is widespread potential for remote freelancing, even in companies where most people need to be in person every day.

Most businesses today that want an app have an app. But having one is not the entire process. The app maker and the business behind the mobile application still need to get it to actually work effectively. Because more people are using apps, many businesses are focusing on the bells and whistles to help them stand out -- instead of designing the apps to reach optimal efficiency.

The 2021 edition of Proofpoint's Voice of the CISO report -- based on a survey of more than 1,400 CISOs in 14 countries -- found 66 percent of the executives acknowledged their organizations were unprepared to handle a targeted cyberattack this year. In addition, more than half the CISOs admitted they are more concerned about the repercussions from a cyberattack this year than they were in 2020.

If you are looking to expand your sales territory and have not yet put Latin America on your bill of lading, you're missing a golden opportunity. Latin America offers the fastest-growing regional e-commerce marketplace in the world. Last year, the total retail e-commerce sales to the LATAM region grew 36.7 percent to $84.95 billion. That is still growing this year.

More than 90 percent of U.S. users of the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system iOS 14.5 are taking advantage of a new feature to block an application's ability to track their activity on their phones. Worldwide, 88 percent of users shut down app tracking on their iPhones. This is bad news for advertisers.

The fifth annual Customer Expectations Report from Gladly reveals what today's consumers want from brands, especially when shopping online. The report describes how consumers' expectations of retailers have changed in the last year amid a global pandemic and an online shopping boom. Also suggested is that online shoppers tend to prefer human agents over digital assistants.

A survey of more than 200 CEOs maintains that poor digital marketing practices and meaningless metrics are "putting the board to sleep." According to the study, 62 percent of the CEOs believe that too much of marketing budgets is wasted on activities that don't deliver meaningful results, while nearly as many -- 60 percent -- think that the marketing potential of social media has been exaggerated.

From coin shortages and curbside operations to contactless transactions, how consumers pay for their purchases has been completely transformed during the pandemic. Marketers expect that transformation to continue and expand. It is not just family staples that are seeing a jump in consumer digital payment options. The retail and gaming sectors are also leading the digital charge.

Many digital marketers spend too much on targeting an already loyal customer base rather than tapping into new streams. Dr. Jorge Barraza, professor of applied psychology at the University of Southern California, has a plan to help advertisers reach consumers that would not normally buy their products, by using the principle of contextual alignment.

An increasing number of consumer-packaged goods companies are shifting to the direct-to-consumer e-commerce model, thus bypassing retailers as middlemen. This raises questions of how manufacturers can meet customers' needs without jeopardizing relationships with their retail distribution partners. The E-Commerce Times spoke with several DTC experts to help shed some light on these issues.

Consumers and marketers alike see social media outlets as a middle ground between selling and buying. Now that shoppers have grown used to seeing product placements and promotions on social media, it is a natural next step for them to want to make a purchase without going to another platform or branded website.

With most workers continuing to work remotely, CRM has become an important tool for managing relationship risk. Financial firms have to deal with market and operational risk, consumer retailers have to focus on supply chain risk, and all companies have to keep an eye on economic risk. Relationship risk is no different, and the role of the CRM is right at the center.

Lost customers and revenues are caused by password sharing and friction created at websites by onerous authentication procedures, according to a new report. The report explained that if accounts are being shared by multiple users, service providers are less likely to accurately monitor usage and are unable to correctly personalize their offerings.

Consumer shopping patterns continue to settle into new options after holiday digital and e-gift card sales soared at the close of last year. Convenience was a large part of the changing consumer trend to favor gifts cards, along with the fact that more families are now living distributed lives. Both situations make the e-gift process more attractive to consumers.

Nearly one-in-five rural Americans don't have broadband Internet access, but that could change with the use of carefully targeted subsidies through a process known as a reverse auction. A big, one-time capital expenditure administered through a reverse-auction program would attract larger, more efficient firms to the problem, noted ITIF Director of Broadband and Spectrum Policy Doug Brake.

Today, more than 60 percent of consumers start their online shopping searches on Amazon. That trend is unlikely to change, as consumers have grown accustomed to the new normal of digital purchasing. As we look ahead into 2021 and beyond, here is what will take place in the Amazon e-commerce ecosystem that every brand needs to know.