Online marketplaces and services are becoming the shopper’s favorite, and most companies are taking their businesses to the web; or running both physical and online stores. Once they are there, they realize they’ve landed in Rome and have no option but to blend in if they are going to survive— adopt a customer centric approach.
But Jia Wertz, an ecommerce analyst and a columnist for Forbes Magazine thinks merchants and the online market as a whole haven’t done enough to correctly verify the ages of online shoppers.
In truth, the focus on customer experience and the distance between the merchant and the buyer is one of the reasons fraud and cases of selling regulated products to the minors are rampant. .
According to Wertz, the anticipated expansion of the online marketplace calls for the need for software that can truly verify the age of a shopper.
“As more age-regulated online stores enter the market and entrepreneurs explore underserved audiences, we are in desperate need for age-verification software that truly works. Some of the age-restricted sectors growing online include liquor, electronic cigarettes, dating sites and apps, and adult content subscriptions,” Wertz said.
As more and more sites that require only ages 18+ subscribers join the market, the Forbes columnist insists on the need for a better, more accurate way to confirm a customer’s age.
Sharing in this opinion is Mike Bittner of The Media Trust.
“age-verification software creators and ecommerce and merchants who depend on these tools must ensure their age-validation procedures don’t rub shoulders with regulations like the consumer privacy laws of Calif.,” Bittner advised.
“In the event of no federal law, this policy will get into effect from January 1, 2020 and serve as the US’s major data privacy law. In that case, website owners and their software providers will have to adhere to the laws no matter which state they serve.”
Final Remarks
The legal consequences of failing to take the right measures when verifying ages are far reaching. What if you sell harmful substances to a minor and the worst occur? You could have a case to answer in a court of law for neglecting your duty.
Hopefully software developers will come up with solutions that will verify ages correctly, and without ruining customer experience.