A secure ecommerce? In 7 out of 10 cases, it isn’t!

14 April 2023 Raffaella Roani

How many ecommerce sites in Italy are secure?
Unfortunately, the news is not good: seven out of ten ecommerce sites do not comply with the law.
The data that emerged from a recent study carried out by the firm Legal for Digital on Italian companies operating in the sector is decidedly alarming.

The growth of e-commerce continues to be steady, but it is not always synonymous with security for consumers and their personal data.

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A study on the security of ecommerce sites

Industry experts, first and foremost Alessandro Vercellotti, the Digital Lawyer, checked whether the various platforms complied with the E-Commerce Code, the Consumer Code and the GDPR.

The study analyzed 50 ecommerce sites belonging to different categories, from luxury clothing to casual wear, from consumer electronics to online course platforms.
It emerged that only three out of ten sites comply with all the legal regulations in force, with complete terms and conditions of sale that take into account all consumer rights.

This means that many ecommerce sites collect users’ personal data without their consent.
In practice, consumers are not protected as they should be.

GDPR compliance for a secure ecommerce

The protection of a user’s personal data is the subject of the European GDPR regulation. For any online site that requests data from the user, it is mandatory to request consent for the processing of the data.
It should be remembered, however, that the GDPR regulation also includes the obligation for companies to inform the user about the use and also about the way in which their personal data will be stored.
Therefore, at the time of consent, generally given through check boxes to be ticked with phrases such as “I consent to the processing of my personal data as indicated in the privacy policy”, there must be a link redirecting to the privacy page with all the information the user needs.
On some sites, according to this study, only the “continue” button was found after entering the data.

Among the 50 Italian sites, other serious legal errors were also found. Among the most important for an ecommerce site, for example, is the lack of the right of return which is instead mandatory and must be notified to consumers. Not all ecommerce sites are the same, but the regulations to be applied are. Whether it is perishable consumer goods, as when doing your online grocery shopping at supermarkets or at a local ecommerce, rather than long-lasting products, as for the sale of bicycles or gadgets or jewelry, the right of return is always contemplated by law.

A secure and reliable ecommerce turns users into customers

But do not worry: there are also companies that comply with the laws, offering transparency and security to the customer during the purchasing process. Some e-commerce sites even go beyond the regulations to best protect and inform the user.
For example, the Legal for Digital study reports the policy of a luxury clothing e-commerce site that, in the first phase of check-out, informs the user not only about data processing, but also about the marketing actions that are activated. For example, it warns that in the event that the order is not completed, an e-mail will be received to recover the abandoned cart.

Providing clear and precise information in this way, right from the start, is synonymous with transparency and encourages the user, who is better informed about their rights, to entrust their personal data to the online shop without worry.

A new directive for ecommerce security

By now, online sales have become a legally complex activity for any Italian company. Opening an ecommerce site requires multifaceted preparation.
On the other hand, turning to external experts for the various phases of building an ecommerce site, from legal consultancy on digital law to securing the website from potential attacks and fraud, can speed up the process and guarantee the correctness of the system, avoiding heavy penalties that can reach up to 4% of the company’s turnover.
The new European Omnibus Directive on discounts and reviews, which recently became law in Italy, could further revolutionize online sales. On the other hand, guarantees for users are at the forefront of rights under the law and, above all, make the difference at the moment of purchase.
Indeed, today the average user is increasingly informed about their rights and often notices legal errors, losing trust.
After bringing a user to your ecommerce site, with marketing actions of various kinds, you need to convince them to buy. And up-selling and cross-selling actions will not be enough to get products into the cart and bring the purchase to completion. Instead, it will be necessary to make the customer feel safe and guaranteed.
Both for the image of your own company and to avoid heavy penalties, therefore, it is increasingly important to protect users with up-to-date IT security systems and respect for all consumer rights.