The 2021 edition of Proofpoint's Voice of the CISO report -- based on a survey of more than 1,400 CISOs in 14 countries -- found 66 percent of the executives acknowledged their organizations were unprepared to handle a targeted cyberattack this year. In addition, more than half the CISOs admitted they are more concerned about the repercussions from a cyberattack this year than they were in 2020.

If you are looking to expand your sales territory and have not yet put Latin America on your bill of lading, you're missing a golden opportunity. Latin America offers the fastest-growing regional e-commerce marketplace in the world. Last year, the total retail e-commerce sales to the LATAM region grew 36.7 percent to $84.95 billion. That is still growing this year.

More than 90 percent of U.S. users of the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system iOS 14.5 are taking advantage of a new feature to block an application's ability to track their activity on their phones. Worldwide, 88 percent of users shut down app tracking on their iPhones. This is bad news for advertisers.

The fifth annual Customer Expectations Report from Gladly reveals what today's consumers want from brands, especially when shopping online. The report describes how consumers' expectations of retailers have changed in the last year amid a global pandemic and an online shopping boom. Also suggested is that online shoppers tend to prefer human agents over digital assistants.

A survey of more than 200 CEOs maintains that poor digital marketing practices and meaningless metrics are "putting the board to sleep." According to the study, 62 percent of the CEOs believe that too much of marketing budgets is wasted on activities that don't deliver meaningful results, while nearly as many -- 60 percent -- think that the marketing potential of social media has been exaggerated.

From coin shortages and curbside operations to contactless transactions, how consumers pay for their purchases has been completely transformed during the pandemic. Marketers expect that transformation to continue and expand. It is not just family staples that are seeing a jump in consumer digital payment options. The retail and gaming sectors are also leading the digital charge.

Many digital marketers spend too much on targeting an already loyal customer base rather than tapping into new streams. Dr. Jorge Barraza, professor of applied psychology at the University of Southern California, has a plan to help advertisers reach consumers that would not normally buy their products, by using the principle of contextual alignment.

An increasing number of consumer-packaged goods companies are shifting to the direct-to-consumer e-commerce model, thus bypassing retailers as middlemen. This raises questions of how manufacturers can meet customers' needs without jeopardizing relationships with their retail distribution partners. The E-Commerce Times spoke with several DTC experts to help shed some light on these issues.

Consumers and marketers alike see social media outlets as a middle ground between selling and buying. Now that shoppers have grown used to seeing product placements and promotions on social media, it is a natural next step for them to want to make a purchase without going to another platform or branded website.

With most workers continuing to work remotely, CRM has become an important tool for managing relationship risk. Financial firms have to deal with market and operational risk, consumer retailers have to focus on supply chain risk, and all companies have to keep an eye on economic risk. Relationship risk is no different, and the role of the CRM is right at the center.

Lost customers and revenues are caused by password sharing and friction created at websites by onerous authentication procedures, according to a new report. The report explained that if accounts are being shared by multiple users, service providers are less likely to accurately monitor usage and are unable to correctly personalize their offerings.

Consumer shopping patterns continue to settle into new options after holiday digital and e-gift card sales soared at the close of last year. Convenience was a large part of the changing consumer trend to favor gifts cards, along with the fact that more families are now living distributed lives. Both situations make the e-gift process more attractive to consumers.

Nearly one-in-five rural Americans don't have broadband Internet access, but that could change with the use of carefully targeted subsidies through a process known as a reverse auction. A big, one-time capital expenditure administered through a reverse-auction program would attract larger, more efficient firms to the problem, noted ITIF Director of Broadband and Spectrum Policy Doug Brake.

Today, more than 60 percent of consumers start their online shopping searches on Amazon. That trend is unlikely to change, as consumers have grown accustomed to the new normal of digital purchasing. As we look ahead into 2021 and beyond, here is what will take place in the Amazon e-commerce ecosystem that every brand needs to know.

One of the big marketing decisions confronting e-commerce vendors today is whether current performance is good enough. Online vendors need to consider their customers' shopping experience in order to assess existing barriers to stronger shopper responsiveness to digital storefronts. For retailers who drop the ball with errors such as inaccurate product feeds and promised products that never arrive, it's redo time.

For brands that haven't yet tried social selling, 2021 is the time to start. Social commerce offers brands the ability to reach new audiences on platforms consumers already use and trust. Moreover, because it streamlines the sales process by allowing people to discover your brand and make purchases without leaving the platform, social commerce can boost revenue.

Apple's plan to release its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy enhancement feature in early spring has set the ad industry on its ear. ATT requires apps to get a consumer's authorization before tracking them or the devices they are using. Ray Wang, principal analyst and founder at Constellation Research, told the E-Commerce Times that "at least 40 percent of consumers will say no."

Shopping trends are expanding as the pandemic's effect on e-commerce continues, forcing retailers to adapt their marketing strategies to meet new consumer expectations and demands, according to a new report. Consumer adoption of digital shopping is driving increased use of user-generated content, new private labels, and access to product sampling.

As they become more prominent, consumers will enjoy shopping experiences that no longer rely on payments from a piece of plastic with a four-digit pin. Instead, consumers will use unique motion sensors in smartphone devices to passively authenticate people using their walking behavior and other contextual biometric signals. Some of these contactless procedures are already being deployed.

The E-Commerce Times discussed with Steve Wiideman, president and CEO of Wiideman Consulting Group, the essentials of how to build an SEO strategy for 2021. Wiideman designed and teaches the Website Optimization and Strategic Search Engine Marketing online course for California State University Fullerton and the SEO Tools and Analytics course at University of California San Diego.

Cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, ramping up the data privacy threats they pose to government agencies and businesses alike. Governments both domestic and foreign need to step up efforts to pass legislation that bolsters technological defenses this year, warn privacy groups. Stiffer privacy laws are gradually being reviewed and signed into the U.S. market. But that process is mostly taking place at the state level.

As the pandemic continues to keep shoppers out of brick-and-mortar stores, new shopping behaviors continue to include smartphones to nudge products into consumers' digital shopping carts. CRM Buyer discussed with Dennis Reno, SVP and head of customer experience at Cyara, how mobile CX is influencing e-commerce, and how these changes can help to improve the customer's overall experience.

In the early part of 2020, the pandemic forced companies around the world to rethink their practices and determine how to accelerate the adoption of technologies that would enable remote work. After closing out on a tumultuous year, many business leaders admit where they may have gone wrong. Here are some ways they would approach a shift to remote work, if faced with the crisis all over again.

While it was already underway prior to the pandemic, the worldwide shift to digital payments has been accelerated by the crisis. This new cashless concept and the related back-end changes by banks to adopt real-time payments are becoming increasingly popular; and have set into motion the potential for a ripple effect throughout the e-commerce ecosystem.

A new mobile processor announced by Qualcomm Technologies is expected to spawn a wave of economically priced 5G smartphones. Kedar Kondap, vice president for product management at Qualcomm maintained in a statement that the Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform will exceed OEM and consumer expectations in delivering high- and mid-tier features at an affordable price.

Eight of the top 10 states for mobile Internet coverage are in the Northeast, according to an analysis released by consumer product and services comparison website WhistleOut. However, the best mobile Internet coverage isn't in a state at all -- but in the District of Columbia. To rank the states, 75 percent of the score was based on median mobile download speeds and 25 percent by 5G coverage.

An Illinois consumer says that on Sept. 26 he received a number of text messages on his cellphone from a company named DoNotPay, Inc., attempting to solicit his business. The messages allegedly urged him to sign up for the DoNotPay app, a service chatbot that its maker bills as "The World's First Robot Lawyer."

Clickwrap transaction platforms, which serve to replace electronic signatures, are emerging as a valuable tool to help businesses navigate the increased volume of online transactions. Instead of signing, users click to check a box, or click on a button with a label such as 'I Agree' or 'Accept'. That action authorizes the included consent language.

Americans seem to have little interest in using contact-tracing applications used to identify people who have come into contact with a person infected with COVID-19. Adoption rates in areas using an app based on technology introduced by Google and Apple six months ago are higher, but even in the most successful of those states -- Connecticut -- only about 20 percent of residents have chosen to activate the software.

Qualcomm last week launched its Snapdragon 888 platform which will show up in premium phones next year. This promises to take the high-end of Android smartphones to levels of performance they've never seen before. Let's talk about what is coming to market in Android phones -- and likely iPhones -- next year, because you've got to believe Apple watched this launch and is now furiously working to create similar functions.