How can e-commerce businesses build consumer trust?

One of the most effective ways of showcasing reliability, integrity and credibility as an e-commerce retailer is through alignment with key industry standards. While there is a strong history of developing standards that protect consumer rights and safety, a new era of standards is now required to meet the challenges of digital transformation and e-commerce today. BSI and other standards bodies are leading the work on this. In this blog, we look at both new and future standards that e-commerce marketplace should be considering.

Standards are created by industry experts, with vast knowledge and experience in their fields. BSI brings together every aspect of society to deliver, through consensus, independent, robust and expert best practices that enhance innovation, productivity, sustainability, and safety.

This isn’t a burden for retailers, but an opportunity. Indeed, alignment with key standards can serve to protect consumers’ rights and benefit businesses.

By embracing best practices, firms can put consumer concerns at ease and finalise more sales. Further, many e-commerce standards will also focus on improving efficiency and increasing productivity, allowing retailers to implement new working practices more efficiently and effectively.

So, which practices should e-commerce businesses be focused on? Here, we take a look at some useful references and standards to adhere to throughout the consumer purchasing journey to ensure compliance, improve productivity and offer consumers complete peace of mind.

Consumers need a way to check the details, trading accreditations and competency of the vendors at point of purchase. They will want to know who they’re dealing with before parting with their hard-earned money and sensitive information. 

Retailers therefore need to offer this to show the trustworthiness of their brand and platform. Being transparent can be highly beneficial – research shows that shoppers are far more likely to trust intermediary sites rather than traders in far off countries, for example.

Here, we recommend retailers establish the right set of verifiable credentials to be successful in e-commerce environments. More on this can be found via the links below:

• W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model v1.1
• UN/CEFACT White Paper - Verifiable Credentials for Cross Border Trade

Cybersecurity is a growing challenge facing the e-commerce market. Today, retailers need to provide the confidence to their customers that any sensitive data exchanged such as personal information and financial details will be properly protected.

This is a growing agenda within the UK Government as it seeks to keep members of the public safe online. For retailers, ETSI EN 303 645 Cyber Security for Consumer Internet of Things: Baseline Requirements is a UK Government backed standard worth considering that supports the Secure by Design Code of Practice.

Additionally, BS ISO 31700-1 Consumer Protection – Privacy by design for consumer goods and services should also be embraced. Published at the start of 2023, this specifies how to design internet connected products and services that will ensure consumers are able to keep their data private through the use of privacy settings.

Businesses need to be aware of several things to ensure that consumer rights are protected. First, they should ensure that sales campaigns aren’t misleading to consumers, using clear contracts to outline what each party has agreed to and can expect.

In terms of refunds, while high street shops don't have to accept returns unless an item is faulty, returns for online purchases are covered by the Consumer Contracts Regulations. More information on this is available here.

The exchange and management of data associated with e-commerce purchases must also be considered. As consumers become more aware of the type of information that’s being collected, many have expressed their discomfort – retailers must therefore align with the online privacy notices and consent principles of BS ISO/IEC 29184 Information technology. Online privacy notices and consent.

Finally, the transaction assurance must be detailed in any terms and conditions, offering consumers information regarding the product or service they are purchasing and their rights if something goes wrong. To do so, retailers should keep an eye out for the release of BS ISO 32111 Transaction assurance in E-commerce. Principles and Framework that is currently under development, yet to be published. 

With the counterfeit and fake goods market booming, online retailers need to protect both themselves and consumers with brand protection, IPR protection and product provenance processes.

To achieve this, they should look towards ISO 32120 Guidelines on sharing of product quality assurance related traceability information in e-commerce supply chains (under development in ISO TC 321 Transaction assurance in e-commerce), this acts as a guideline for providing product quality assurance via the traceability information in e-commerce supply chains. Additionally, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies may also be used in specific use cases, as outlined in PD ISO/TR 3242 Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Use cases.

Many consumers like to know that both organizations and the products they sell are sustainable before committing to a purchase.

To meet consumer demands in this domain, retailers should look towards the EU Digital Product Passport. In essence, this will collect, organise, and store data in efficient and secure ways. It will include product specific information relevant to promote circularity, sustainability, and related legal compliance, and will provide a single view of all existing information relating to a product during its entire life cycle.

Additionally, retailers should also look to embrace ISO 32120 which provides guidelines relating to the sharing of product quality assurance and traceability information in e-commerce supply chains.

There are a variety of safety regulations that e-commerce retailers may need to consider depending on their unique circumstances. Toy retailers will need to consider ISO 8124 series: Safety of Toys, for example, while food retailers will need to consider PD ISO 22000 Food safety management systems. A practical guide.

Retailers working with overseas suppliers should also look to develop plant control standards to minimise risk of pests and diseases entering import country. You can find more information about this on the European Commission website here.

After-sales is vital for any business looking to demonstrate trustworthiness to consumers. That means demonstrating a proven ability to offer both refunds and returns, with the necessary protocols in place to manage both.

This is even more important for e-commerce operators. Typically, a quarter of online sales result in returns, whereas physical retail sales only see an 8% return rate.

However, consumers are often left frustrated in the returns process, confronted with complicated platforms representing vendor manufacturers in different countries. Resultantly, a huge number of online returns end up in landfill, raising important sustainability issues.

To build the trustable procedures that consumers crave, businesses should keep an eye out for the release of ISO/WD 32123 that is currently under development. Specifically, this will be focused on aftersales services for the e-commerce market, helping to make the process more seamless for both businesses and consumers.

For any online dispute resolution, firms should also look to embrace leading standards in the form of ISO/WD 32122 Transaction assurance in e-commerce — Guidelines for online dispute resolution which is also currently under development in ISO TC321.

Consumers today expect the ability to trace and track their parcels – something that is also critical for businesses which may need to intervene in the event of issues with transport and delivery of goods.

Here, there are several supportive frameworks which can be leveraged, including:

• The UN CEFACT Buy-Ship-Pay global supply chain reference data model, based on ISO 15000-5 Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML) – Core Components Specification (CCS)
• ISO/DIS 23355 Visibility data interchange between logistics information service providers (under development in TC 154 Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration)
• The UN/CEFACT Business Requirements Specification – Integrated Track and Trace for Multi-Modal Transportation

In some instances, such as food or medical e-commerce, temperature will also need to be controlled throughout the transportation chain. Here, ISO/DTR 16340.2 that is currently under development in TC 154 will soon be able to offer best practice guidance, this also set to outline how blockchain-based traceability platforms can be used in food cold chains.

Ultimately, when it comes to standards alignment, we’re talking about a significant opportunity for retailers.

Today, customers want to know they’re dealing with reputable entities that they can trust to provide the products and services they want in a safe, reliable, sustainable and secure manner. They want to know exactly who they’re dealing with, and to receive assurances that products will be delivered in a timely manner, with no unfortunate surprises in respect of quality or service.

Every consumer is different. Some will value their experience with a brand based on the level of attention they receive post purchase, while others will simply refuse to buy from any business incapable of showcasing specific sustainability credentials.

In this sense, compliance with key standards can be a major competitive advantage. Just as marketers use multiple channels (be it email, social media or SMS message) to maximise interactions and improve relations with customers, aligning with key standards will ensure companies deliver on the various fronts that matter to consumers most.

This is not an administrative burden. Rather, it offers the chance to capitalise on business opportunities in an unimpeded manner and establish a loyal base of repeat customers.