Retail companies have always been customer-centric, but the definition of customer-centricity has changed. In the past, consumers were satisfied with attentive salespeople and a wide selection of products. Now they also want a digital experience, and even if they’re not shopping online, they want to know they can trust a merchant to protect their personal information. And there is a lot of data Retailers are collecting unprecedented amounts of customer data, and these data stores are particularly attractive to cybercriminals. In the past year alone, Kmart, Forever 21, Saks and Brooks Brothers were just a few of the brands that made headlines when they failed to protect customer data from attackers.

These thefts do not go unnoticed by consumers. According to the KPMG Cyber Consumer Loss Barometer, 20% of shoppers surveyed said they would stop buying a brand if it was compromised. More than 30 percent said they would delay purchasing from a compromised brand for three months The costs of lost business include restoration, business interruption, legal fees, repairs and identity tracking, legal fines and other cleanup costs, which average about $7 million per violation.

Hackers can break into a retail organization’s network by jumping off the vendor’s network. A typical mid-sized vendor has hundreds or even thousands of business partners, and there is no guarantee that any of these vendors will adequately protect their networks. Resellers may invest heavily in security, but many don’t pay enough attention to the biggest vulnerability: identity and access management. They might as well put their entire business in a giant safe and write the combination next to the lock. It could be said: identity is today’s firewall.

Today’s retail industry has several challenges that can be solved by implementing a CIAM solution. These issues include the needs Smooth Platforming Experience.