Security News > 2021 > May > Sneakers, Gaming, Nvidia Cards: Retailers Can Stop Shopping Bots

As scarcity and demand increase, gaining the online advantage through automation has taken hold as shopping bots invade online retailers to purchase desirable items, then resell them on the secondary market.

As bots become more commonplace, human buyers are unleashing their dissatisfaction on the retailers through social media and taking their business elsewhere - but what happens when bots take over and there is nowhere else to turn?

Retailers are applying the same 1970s technology to the online shopping experience as a means of combating bots.

Added ways in which retailers are applying friction to defeat bots is to allow all purchases to go through, then manually validating them, canceling those deemed fraudulent.

Combined with the legitimate users waiting in a waiting room and the inventory being purchased by the bots anyway, the user friction resulting from retailers' attempts to defeat automated bots only adds insult to the injury of the "Out-of-stock" notice that the vast majority of shoppers will see, and to make matters worse, it doesn't solve the problem that bots scored all the goods.

Creating bot friction, now that is a concept I can get behind! Let's get our retailers to enable users to make a purchase and keep the bots running in circles, accomplishing nothing.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/sneakers-gaming-nvidia-retailers-shopping-bots/165838/