This is important because levels of trust correlate to spending. Consumers across all levels of trust—low, moderate and high—increased spending in the past 12 months, but low-trust consumers decreased spending by larger margins. Forty-three percent of low-trust consumers (those with index scores under 55) increased spending, while 15% decreased spending. By comparison, 57% of high-trust consumers (those with scores of 70 or higher) increased spending, while only 4% spent less.
Research from security company RSA also shows the financial impact that results from losing trust. Nearly seven in 10 internet users in the US and Western Europe have boycotted (or would boycott) a company that repeatedly did not protect their personal data.
Interestingly, the CA Technologies/Frost & Sullivan study showed the retail industry had the biggest gap between loss of consumer trust after a data breach and the monetary effect. Fifty-nine percent of consumers said a breach had negative impact, but 41% of retailers said the breach had financial impact.
Worldwide, 46% of consumers don't believe (or are unsure) that businesses sell their personal data, but 43% of businesses overall said they engage in this practice. For retailers, though, that figure drops to 26%. Financial services (83%) and healthcare (74%) are far bigger offenders.
Buyers worldwide were asked by Capgemini in February to rate the retailer they shopped at most often on different cybersecurity measures. Most (60%) said their primary retailer does an outstanding job of making sure their sites and apps are safe. Not surprisingly, based on the above findings from CA Technologies/Frost & Sullivan, the lowest marks were given to the transparency of personal or financial data (42%).