April 9, 2024 – Adyen, the global financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, has today published its Adyen Index Australia: Retail 2024, exposing the impact of fraud on the Australian retail sector.

Working alongside the Centre for Economic Business and Research (Cebr), Adyen found that Australian retail businesses lost an average of $2.2m to fraud in 2023. In total, nearly half of Australian retailers (43%) fell victim to cyber attacks or data leaks over the last 12 months, an increase of 10% when compared to 2023’s numbers.

As digital transformation among businesses accelerates, so does the prevalence of fraud attacks. The index revealed a surge in fraud attempts among Australian retailers, with over 2 in 5 (42%) agreeing, as Adyen cautions that these incidents could have significant consequences.

Despite the significant increase in fraudulent activity, only two-thirds of businesses (67%) said that they have effective fraud prevention systems in place – an increase of only 9 percentage points since last year (58%).

Impact of Fraud On Consumer Behaviour

The risk of fraud has impacted consumer behaviour while shopping, both in-store and online. More than a third (36%) of Australian consumers now feel more unsafe when shopping today compared to 10 years ago, due to the increased risk of payment fraud. Globally the figure stands at 25%, meaning Australians are more concerned than their international counterparts.

As a result 24% of Australian consumers actively choose to shop at stores which have higher security measures, and when shopping online, 22% of Aussies like when retailers ask them to verify their identity in at least two different ways before making a purchase – despite the inconvenience or friction that this can cause during the checkout process.

Business Response

Businesses are actively exploring how they can respond to the growing threat of fraud, in order to better protect their customers and themselves. More than half (52%) have actively considered changing their payments provider to one that can offer improved fraud defence mechanisms.

Furthermore, 54% have started considering how their business can be compliant with Payment Services Directive 3 (PSD3) – a directive from the European Union setting out stricter rules for protecting consumers’ rights and personal information in the finance industry.

“Fraud is a pervasive challenge for retailers, and our 2024 Retail Index findings demonstrate how it could be significantly impacting profits” said Hayley Fisher, Australia & New Zealand Country Manager at Adyen. “There’s no one solution to fraud defence, as a strategy will need to be tailored based on the business model and platforms used to make sales,” Hayley continued. “With technology in place, such as machine learning tools, retailers should be able to recognise genuine customers and spot fraudulent activity across their sales channels.”