ESET, a global pioneer in proactive protection for more than two decades, has commissioned a series of surveys of online shopping trends in selected nations: Britain, Germany, Russia and the United States.*
In terms of the habits of different nations, the results throw up some surprises. To name just one example, the crypto-currency Bitcoin has become a popular method of payment amongst Russians, at a time that their national currency, the ruble, is under pressure. What once might have seemed high-tech sci-fi is, according to these numbers, now becoming more of an everyday reality in some regions.
ESET commissioned the surveys to coincide with a time of the year beloved by all passionate online shoppers, as offers proliferate on Black Friday (November 27) and Cyber Monday (November 30).
The surveys also offer a chance to compare this extraordinary finding with trends in other big markets – such as the United States, where e-shoppers continue to stick to their credit cards; or western European nations, where customers most frequently pay online using novel web-based methods, such as PayPal or similar.
Amongst the other interesting findings – all of which are summed up in a series of topical blogposts – the ESET surveys document the most frequent security incidents while online shopping amongst users in the four countries, the forms of protection they use, and how many of them dislike the idea of e-shopping or, by contrast, love to get their presents, clothes or goods online. The latter group is the cornerstone of Black Friday’s and Cyber Monday’s success, and contributes significantly to the millions of online transactions taking place on and around these special dates. Despite this, many users don’t realize that their transactions are a perfect opportunity for cyber attackers hunting for sensitive information.
Detailed findings can be found in topical blogposts published both on ESET.com and on ESET’s news portal WeLiveSecurity.com, along with handy infographics about the trends.
Especially for online shoppers, ESET has come up with a new feature in ESET Smart Security 9: Banking & Payment Protection. This offers a secured browser window with a higher level of protection for users’ money and sensitive data, and can help to make Black Friday and Cyber Monday a safer experience.
For more information about the surveys and comparisons, read our blogposts and statistics at ESET.com or WeLiveSecurity.com.
* The surveys were conducted during Q3 of 2015 on a demographically representative sample of at least 1,000 Internet users in each country. Surveys were conducted in the UK, US and Germany by Google Surveys, and in Russia by Merku.
In the specific breakdown on how online shopping is being used and about habits, we address only percentages from the group of online shopping users.
About ESET
Since 1987, ESET® has been developing award-winning security software that now helps over 100 million users to Enjoy Safer Technology. Its broad security product portfolio covers all popular platforms and provides businesses and consumers around the world with the perfect balance of performance and proactive protection. The company has a global sales network covering 180 countries, and regional offices in Bratislava, San Diego, Singapore and Buenos Aires. For more information visit www.eset.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.