Securing Your eCommerce Business: Everything You Should Know
Follow these 8 tips to protect your eCommerce businesses against common security risks.
eCommerce stores comprise several parts. You need product assortment, precise marketing campaigns, and decent profit margins, among other factors, to build a successful shop.
Unfortunately, startups rarely have sufficient funds for these roles. Most end up skimping on cost centers, like cybersecurity, data tracking, and secure payment processing. They’d rather invest in profit-generating functions.
Although costly, you shouldn’t overlook security and data privacy measures. Falling victim to data breaches will set your shop back by several grand. Many compromised businesses even go bankrupt.
To combat vulnerabilities, learn the basics of eCommerce security. Standard practices like tracking file access histories, setting up strong passwords, and organizing customer data go a long way.
Follow these 8 tips to protect your eCommerce businesses against common security risks.
1. Integrate Your Software Programs
Several eCommerce tools streamline operations. Time trackers monitor employees, automated inventory management tools track supplies, and online collaboration programs organize tasks.
Although functional, avoid over-investing in them. Using multiple work tools makes it harder to secure company files. You must actively monitor, organize, and erase data, or else you’ll leave them vulnerable to cross-platform security threats.
To simplify tracking, integrate your programs. Use a feature-packed management platform like Replyco so that you won’t have to transfer files between apps.
2. Keep Track of Order Details
Order tracking plays a crucial role in eCommerce. Jeremy Clifford, the CEO at RouterCtrl, shares that even minor shipping delays spike customer attrition rates. He says, “You’ll have trouble gaining repeat clients unless you speed up your fulfillment process. 15% of customers abandon brands that delay their orders.”
But before investing in private fulfillment systems, help your logistics team cut workflow bottlenecks. We suggest integrating your order tracking system. Your team will save time if they take, track, and process orders from the same place. Errors typically arise with cross-platform tracking.
3. Streamline Task Management
Task tracking is a common problem with managing remote teams. Workers often overlook tasks due to time zone differences, technical difficulties, and miscommunication.
A few delays now and then are understandable. But if recurring issues cause your team to miss time-sensitive duties, overhaul your task distribution system.
Explore management tools for remote teams. They let you create orders, assign tasks, and track employees—thus, eliminating back-and-forth emails when managing projects.
You can also organize tasks based on their importance. For instance, label critical security concerns and customer complaints in red so that your team prioritizes them.
4. Automate Customer Support
A crucial rule in customer service is to solve complaints promptly. Don’t just avoid them. While reading negative comments feels bad, ignoring them altogether compromises your business.
Jerry Han, the CMO at PrizeRebel, also shares that addressing customer concerns is excellent marketing. He says, “Complaint resolution benefits brands and consumers alike. Customers appreciate brands that consider their opinions, while business owners can use complaints to spot underlying issues. Ensure the welfare of your business and its patrons.”
5. Organize Customer Data
Customer data comprises sensitive PII, which identity thieves might attempt to steal. You’re responsible for stopping them. Invest in a secure database guaranteed to combat prevalent hacking methods, e.g., brute-force attacks and spyware infections.
Apart from improving your privacy system, only collect crucial information. A massive database puts you at risk.
Mark Pierce, the CEO of Colorado LLC Attorney, shares that data breach victims also file lawsuits. He says, “Should a data breach occur, expect your clients to sue you. They will hold you responsible for recovering compromised data, resolving fraudulent accounts, and settling any resulting legal fees.”
6. Invest in Secure Payment Gateways
Avoid insecure payment processors, regardless of their fees. Cybercriminals can take over vulnerable POS systems to steal customer data. Should you fall victim to these attacks, you might end up paying tens of thousands of dollars worth of lost data.
Instead of using cheap processors, adjust your prices. Explore different pricing strategies that will help you maintain profit margins while paying premium processing fees.
7. Setup Strong Passwords
Password management becomes harder as your business grows. Apart from securing your accounts, your employees would also have to follow best practices in password security. Losing just one account could already cause a data breach.
Jarret Austin, the owner of Bankruptcy Canada Inc., also shares that making your passwords strong is more important than frequently changing them. He says, “Don’t underestimate password strength. A strong password will protect your shop for years. Hackers would theoretically need millions of years to crack lengthy alphanumeric strings.”
8. Choose Reliable eCommerce Platforms
Site builders make it easier than ever to start an eCommerce shop. Platforms like Shopify carry several themes that even newbies with zero coding experience can utilize. Your new site will be up within hours.
While you might save money using free apps, we suggest investing in premium, secure options. Yes, the fees will drive up your overhead. But they feature robust, proven systems resilient against cybersecurity threats.
Shawn Plummer, the CEO of The Annuity Expert Advice, shares that annual fees are a small price to pay for security. He says, “Don’t settle for cheap builders. Domain and builder fees pale in comparison to the financial losses resulting from a data breach. Prioritize your shop’s security.”
The Importance of eCommerce Security
Executing the above practices might seem tedious, but they’ll significantly improve your cyber security system. Otherwise, your shop will be vulnerable to:
- Brute-Force Hacking: Hackers use advanced hacking tools that automatically input multiple password combinations. It will guess every possible alphanumeric string.
- Phishing Links: Hackers trick users into divulging their login credentials by replicating legit login pages.
- Data Breaches: Crooks steal PII from companies en masse.
Protect Your eCommerce Business Against Security Threats
Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be expensive. Instead of wasting resources on systems that you’ll rarely use, focus on the above security measures. Incorporate them into your workflow.
Likewise, make sure you properly train your eCommerce team, especially if they handle confidential files. Humans are the weakest link in cybersecurity. Having just one employee fall for phishing links could cost your shop tens of thousands.
