In a recent article about the cost of living crisis in the United States, Chargebacks911 COO and Co-Founder Monica Eaton shared her thoughts about retailers' plans to help consumers through a potentially difficult holiday season.
Founded in 1990, Interactive Media Group is a trade association focused on helping online retailers and brands to better understand and improve their overall performance. IMRG has grown to become the UK’s largest eCommerce membership community in recent years. Composed of retailers, brands, and technology partners, they encourage cooperation between brands and technology partners to forge sustainable relationships.
According to the article, retailers are pulling out all the stops to keep customers this season. With 75% of middle-class households saying their salaries are no longer sufficient to keep up, this is an issue that would surely rebound on retailers who fail to take it seriously.
Given high gas prices, supply chain issues, and food shortages, every little bit will help. In response, a smattering of retailers has rolled out new initiatives designed to reduce consumer costs and help the public prepare for a turbulent holiday season. But, while these efforts are to be lauded and may help merchants as much as their customers, retailers are still urged to be wary of fraud.
“There is no ‘recession proof’ business when the cost of every kilowatt of energy your offices consume has tripled, or more, in price and every dollar you earn is worth less,” Monica said.
“Consumers will be hardest hit, and unfortunately, this will mean an increase in all types of fraud, just as we saw during the early parts of the Covid-19 pandemic. This means that if there was ever a time to shore up your company’s anti-fraud defenses, then it is now. Your company can’t afford to have its profits eaten away by fraudulent chargeback claims, which are already a major cause of preventable losses.”
