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Would you like to receive regular email updates of my ecommerce and marketing research, plus news of additions to the site? Subscribe today for free via the form in the right hand column of this page! June 19 2005 40 million credit cards compromised - merchants bewareMasterCard International has reported that a massive security breach of a third party payment processor has potentially exposed 40 million cards of all types to fraud, approximately 13.9 million being MasterCard cards. While consumers have strong protection if unauthorized charges are made on their credit cards, merchants don't; so it's of critical importance for merchants to screen and monitor transactions carefully. I also noticed on a discussion regarding this breach, that 70,000 fraudulent transactions had been attempted on the compromised cards already. I don't know where that information was obtained from, but regardless of the authenticity; the breach did occur and it's very worrying for ecommerce merchants. Read more about minimizing credit card fraud and chargebacks.
Google to offer payment processing services?According to an article from the Wall Street Journal; Google is gearing up to offer it's own payment service, similar to PayPal. This would be sure to send shivers up the spine of the world's premier third party payments processor; not to mention a few others. Google has a major advantage over previous challengers to PayPal - credibility and consumer awareness. I'd be more than happy to see Google provide this service; heck, I'd be standing in line to open an account if the fees are cheaper than other current solutions. PayPal, while a great service, is a tad expensive. Hopefully a major player such as Google launching their own payment service will provide the competition to start seeing a lowering of transaction fees across the board. Google, as always, is currently tight-lipped about the whole thing :). Read our guide to merchant accounts, payment gateways and credit card processing. June 17 2005 Broadband over power linesBroadband over mains power lines is rapidly becoming a reality after several years of technical challenges and trials. In fact, it's estimated that within 7 years, 33% of new broadband customers in the USA will access the Internet via a BPL connection. Interested in learning more about BPL? There's a great article on it on InternetWeek that explains how the technology works and the challenges of implementation. June 16 2005 Google the choice of professionalsAccording to a report from ChangeWave research of over 1400 professionals, Google comes out on top as the preferred search engine at 78% followed by Yahoo at 14%. The Google toolbar is also more popular with this slice of the market at 38%, with Yahoo's toolbar at 28%. 38% of those surveyed stated that they will be using more of Google's services next year compared to 20% for extended use of Yahoo's offerings Read the Google vs. Yahoo report. June 15 2005 Email marketing and MomsA survey recently carried out by Lucid Marketing and Email Labs shows that email marketing does greatly influence the purchase decisions of a very powerful demographic - Moms. Amongst the findings
The survey comments and statistics also drive home the fact that women, while avid online shoppers, are discerning and cautious. Read more of the survey Learn more about women and web marketing
June 14 2005 False positives impacting email marketingA study released by Pivotal Veracity has stated that many well established companies, organizations and government agencies are having major problems with delivering legitimate email marketing and communications to major ISP's due to challenges with content filters. A very comprehensive report on the study including commentary and advice on email marketing/spam issues can be downloaded for free (PDF 474kb) June 12 2005 Updated article - credit card fraud strategiesWith credit card fraud and chargeback fees on the rise, no ecommerce merchant can afford not to re-examine their anti fraud strategies. Pick up some valuable tips in this article, plus learn about a very special offer for Taming the Beast.net visitors of 2 months free transaction screening!
Current online boom, will it bust?This interesting article on The Economist takes a look at the current general positive condition of technology related companies in relation to the stock market and compares it to the boom days of the late 90's. While companies such as Google are leading the way with massive increases in share values; baseless speculation is less rife than it was prior to the big bust. Investors are demanding to see profit rather than potential. Still, the article does point out that valuations are rising disproportionately quickly in comparison to profits, albeit revenues are looking very healthy. BTW, Google , which went public last August at $85 a share are currently valued at around $286. Overrated security threats?One of the topics covered at the recent Gartner IT Security Summit has been the hesitancy by some companies to implement new technologies due to perceived security threats that may have been over-hyped in the media. Gartner analysts identified 5 of the most misunderstood issues:
Learn more about why Gartner suggests that these security issues have been blown out of proportion.
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In Loving Memory - Mignon Ann Bloch
copyright (c) 1999-2007 Taming the Beast Adelaide - South Australia
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