Leading retailers collaborate to curb fraud

Home shopping brand QVC and Shop Direct, which owns Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com, have signed up to a new initiative aimed at cracking down on customer fraud by sharing transactional data. The new scheme from Transactics, Trade, allows retailers to share and view real-time information 

related to customer behaviours, including order processing, identity verification, goods lost in transit, returns and other activities to provide a broader pattern of customer behaviour across a much larger range of transactions. The scheme also draws on data not just on individual consumers but on addresses so that, through data matching, retailers can detect fraudsters using multiple identities across several organisations and other tactics for masking dishonest activities.

The aim of the fraud and loss prevention coalition is to better equip retailers to identify, investigate and challenge potential threats and fraudsters, while strengthening processes that ensure genuine customers receive better service. It has also been designed to provide members with all the information they need to quickly decide how to proceed at any point in the customer journey, from their initial contact with the company to registration to order and payment to fulfilment.

“There is a very narrow window for a retailer to review an order and decide what action to take,” said Dave Webber, product and professional services director at Transactis. “Not only is there the relationship with the customer to consider – for instance, the retailer can’t just wait and see what happens if a delivery goes missing – but there is the cost that further investigation would entail, so there is a real need for the company to have relevant information that enables it to quickly and efficiently assess a situation and prioritise the use of its resources.”

Transactis launches counter-fraud and loss prevention coalition

John Pears, director of credit risk and operations at Shop Direct said: “Trade has been put together with input from retail players that really understand the impact of fraud and the need for a loss prevention platform that addresses the challenges they face each day.

“The retail industry especially the companies involved in e-commerce and other forms of home shopping – needs a system that takes this type of loss prevention to the next level. Previously we’ve had to rely on data developed for use by financial institutions, which does not fully address the very specific cyber threats that online retailers are facing today.”

Martin Spencer, finance manager of QVC UK, added: “Best practice and doing things the right way – for both the business and the customer depends on having the right tools to tackle retail fraud. Trade provides a new and essential instrument for doing this, providing a ground-breaking means of cutting down losses arising from first-party fraud against retailers engaged in e-commerce. It is a solution that the whole sector could pick up on – to everyone in the industry’s advantage.

“Companies in the retail industry have not really worked together before to deliver a collective anti-fraud service that covers both card and credit transactions, so Trade is providing a real opportunity for a level of information-sharing that has not previously been possible.”

With Shop Direct and QVC on board the new data-sharing initiative already brings together customer information from nine million UK households, which represents 39 percent of the marketplace. The more companies that add to the scheme the more effective Trade will be at helping to spot potential fraudsters.

Images: QVC and Very.co.uk