Most shoppers to stay on-line as Covid threat persists, survey finds

Most consumers intend to continue shopping on-line while Covid-19 lurks in the background, according to one credit card company.

Debit and credit card business Visa says that research it commissioned shows that the pandemic has spurred one in four Irish small businesses to start selling on-line.

Visa’s study also found that 53 per cent of Irish people plan to continue buying goods through the internet as the virus persists.

However, the company warns that thousands of small businesses risk being unable to trade digitally from January 1st 2021 as they have not installed extra security features demanded by the EU Payment Service Directive.

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These require banks to seek extra information from customers, including a finger print or four-digit one-time passcode, to verify a purchase.

Without this extra backup, businesses could find that banks have to decline customer purchases.

Philip Konopik, Ireland country manager, Visa, says Covid-19 had made on-line trading increasingly important for businesses to reach customers.

“There is a real risk, however, that thousands of Irish small businesses will suddenly find this critical source of revenue switched off because they have failed to prepare for strong customer authentication requirements,” he adds.