The Logic Group Blog

As a consumer we place our trust in retailers to provide the services and products we require to a service level that we expect. A retail store provides a slick and well presented mechanism to deliver products to the public in a fast, effective and secure manner. However, behind the scenes the technology that underpins this process can be woefully insecure.

It is reported that a major European retailer is breached every week and the reason we do not hear about it……the retailer does not know about the breach themselves. In the past five years there have been a number of high profile cases of card data theft from retailer systems including security breaches of high profile businesses resulting in data loss. These breaches have resulted in large fines being imposed and a loss of reputation for the business in question. However, the impact to us as the consumer is often more painful. The thought of your personal details being used by fraudsters to gain benefit because the retailer you trusted has failed to protect you in the most basic way, can be frustrating. That basic principle is to keep your personal information, your credit or debit card secure and safe from prying eyes and with over 165 millions cards in operation in the UK alone that proves a significant challenge.

As the social media frenzy spirals on, the challenge for businesses trying to incorporate social networks into their overall marketing strategy intensifies.

Fuelled by mobile devices, which give users access wherever they are and whenever they want it, social networks will continue to become an integral part of our lives. And with it, our expectations will grow. Consumers will expect a unique experience, offers, rewards and games in return for their engagement with a brand through social networks. Although this presents a challenge to organisations, the opportunities to reach their consumers and target them with relevant communications at the right time, opens up further. Facebook is already allowing retailers to offer customer promotions specific to location when users “check-in” via facebook places. Not only does this make the offer more significant to the consumer’s location, the message is far reaching, as users also broadcast the offer to friends through the network.