Research carried out by GB Group in April 2008 revealed what exactly our children are buying online:
As consumers carry out their shopping, financial transactions and even their social lives in increasingly faceless environments, the onus is on organisations to prove they know who their customers are to meet their social responsibility requirements and protect their brand. In order to reduce the reputational risk of children gaining access to age restricted goods and material via the online channel, businesses need to consider how they can implement an age verification check that meets all compliance requirements – without hindering the experience for the genuine adult customer.
How to verify age online is becoming a hot issue for emerging markets such as online gaming and online retail as well as more traditional ones such as financial services Online gaming sites need to block minors from using their services; retailers need to ensure they are not allowing 18+ products including alcohol or adult DVDs to be sold to minors; and the rise of pre-paid VISA cards as a form of electronic money challenges financial services to include age verification at the point of card registration.
But in some industries verifying that a customer is under 18 is also key.
The growth of social networking and the emergence of user-generated content on the Web have led to fears about who children are meeting online. How to confirm the identity of “friends” about whom little is known – and nothing is verified – is a major challenge, and not just for the social network operators. Large brands who want to grab the opportunity that Web 2.0 offers to build strong and loyal customer communities online need to consider the reputational damage that could be done if they don’t verify age or identity as appropriate.
GB’s age verification technology, ID3, supports applications such as URU and ID3 Check to provide age verification of UK citizens and for more than 800 million citizens globally.