The 2020 Data Protection Report from Rewind highlights the degree to which eCommerce merchants are underestimating the loss of the data they store. So much so, one in four retailers say they have lost critical business data permanently.
For eCommerce companies this data is absolutely essential for powering their business and driving sales online. If the information is not adequately backed up, the loss in terms of financial, man hours and reputation can be catastrophic. The impact is especially devastating for small business. Considering small businesses lose an average of $80K to cyber crimes annually the problem has serious repercussions.
Rewind 2020 Data Protection Survey
However, the data is not always lost to a cyber attack. There are many reasons why this information is lost, but the damage to a business can be just as bad. The CEO of Rewind, Mike Potter, explains the data loss like this in the company blog.
Potter says, “It’s clear from this survey that data loss has a major domino effect on eCommerce operations. What may seem insignificant at first, can easily compound into lost resources, man hours and revenue.”
The findings in the survey points to an urgent need for eCommerce retailers to better safeguard their data.
Key Findings
The most glaring finding in the survey is one in four retailers have permanently lost critical business data. This the report says is responsible for crippling sales and revenue.
It is important to note all of the respondents in the survey have adopted a backup strategy now. However, before this decision, close to 60% never backed up their web content by any method. This was primarily driven by the wrong assumption that cloud software did the job. This in turn was responsible for a lot of data loss. In fact, the survey reveals eCommerce data loss is surprisingly common.
Again, a quarter or 25% of the respondents report losing critical content requiring a restore operation. The data they lost include images (23%), orders (8%), pages (7%), themes (7%) and inventory (7%). Yet others report losing customer data, menu navigation, blog posts, pricing lists, product reviews, gift card information, metadata and custom coding.
And when it comes to recovering the data the answers vary greatly. But the most startling answer is 52% of them said they were unsure how long the interruption to their operation lasted. Of those that do know, 28% report it took 0 to five hours, another 13% say it was six to 25 hours and for an unfortunate 8% they never managed to recover their data.
Bearing in mind consumers now make split second decisions about a website these days, being down for minutes much less hours can deliver a devastating blow to a business.
The Impact of Losing Content on Sales and Business Continuity
In today’s digital ecosystem each data point you gather has value. With the right analytics, you can use the information to improve the operations of your business as well as serving your customers. So, what do business value when it comes to content.
At 94%, the overwhelming answer is products and images. Because of the visual nature of an eCommerce site, that answer is not surprising. Protecting these assets is very important because it is a labor-intensive process. And if you have a large catalog, populating your online store with products and images means it will take a long time.
When this information is lost, the time/labor it takes to rebuild a website is the biggest issue for 91% of the respondents. Without the proper backup, this can definitely be a long process. And the longer it takes the more your customers will stay away. So, the loss of sales/orders/revenue is not surprisingly next at 89%.
Some others say loss of reputation/unhappy customers (20%), total collapse of business (19%), and inconvenience (12%) are also issues.
The Survey
The participants in the Rewind survey were owners or employees of eCommerce stores in North America. The majority of the respondents (70%) are small business owners with five or fewer employees. And another 20% have between six and 15 employees in their company.
These businesses use the Shopify or BigCommerce platforms for their digital commerce. And almost half of the respondents say 76% to 100% of their sales comes from eCommerce. This further highlights the fear these owners have about digital security and the precaution it warrants.
Conclusion
According to Rewind, the outlook is positive. This is because there are solutions in the marketplace to solve the problems the survey and report highlight.
With the right automated backup solution and data backup best practices, you can ensure the data in your eCommerce store is safe.
The key is to having a system in which all your employees follow the process and best practices you put in place.
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Image: Rewind
This article, “1 in 4 Retailers Lost Critical Business Data Permanently Without a Backup System” was first published on Small Business Trends