The number of consumers shopping online continues to grow, as does the amount of money they spend on purchases. But despite this, many are still concerned about the privacy and security of these transactions, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

Half of online shoppers said they were concerned with the privacy and safety of the activity, with a slim 16 percent having confidence in the trustworthiness of online-only web merchants. Even though many consumers have qualms with the security of online shopping, 71 percent of American adults said they actively shop online.

Merchants that collect information about consumers, whether it's demographic and behavioral or financial payment data, need to do a better job of being transparent about what they do with this intelligence to make consumers want to shop with them.

"Ease [consumers’] fears by providing easy access to what information you have about them, reducing both the fear of the ‘unknown’ and letting them feel a sense of control," Forrester says.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, May 18th, 2012 at 9:39 am .