Cross-border shopping in Europe trusted more once tried

The spring Consumer Scoreboard published by the European Commission shows a clear recovery in consumer conditions in nearly all EU countries after the steep decline in 2009. However it also confirms a growing gap between domestic and cross-border e-commerce, despite a clear potential of cross-border purchases in terms of choice and savings.

But the study suggests that consumers are much more confident in cross-border shopping once they have tried it. There are important obstacles to cross-border e-commerce on the supply side, with fewer retailers selling across national borders compared with 2009, the European Commission said.

The Consumer Scoreboard provides evidence and alerts about how the single market is performing for EU consumers in terms of choice, prices and satisfaction.

John Dalli, Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, said it is “good news that consumers’ worries about cross-border shopping tend to evaporate once they’ve actually tried it and had a good experience. But the results also confirm how much work there is still ahead of us in dismantling the remaining barriers to the benefit of European economy and European consumers and businesses alike”.

The Scoreboard shows continued growth of domestic e-commerce, with 36 per cent of EU consumers having shopped online from national sellers in 2010 (34 percent in 2009).

However, cross-border e-commerce continues to grow at a sluggish pace (nine per cent in 2010, compared with eight per cent in 2009), despite clear benefits in terms of savings and choice as evidenced in earlier studies. Efforts need to be stepped up to meet the Digital Agenda target (20 per cent by 2015).

Consumers’ perceptions seem to be a major barrier to cross-border e-commerce. Among consumers who have not made a cross-border distance purchase 62 per cent are worried about fraud and scams; 59 per cent cite concerns about what to do when problems arise; 49 per cent are put off by expected delivery problems.

However, these concerns are much less widespread among consumers who have actually shopped cross-border (34 per cent, 30 per cent and 20 per cent respectively).

Among consumers who have already shopped cross-border, 61 per cent were equally confident in cross-border and domestic online shopping compared to only 33 per cent of the general population.

Cross-border e-commerce appears to be at least as reliable as domestic e-commerce or even more: only 16 per cent of cross-border purchases were delayed (18 per cent for domestic purchases); the product did not arrive in five per cent of cross-border cases (six per cent for domestic purchases).

The Commission said the findings suggest a key role for more effective information about existing cross-border advice, enforcement and redress mechanisms. These include the Consumer Protection Co-operation (CPC) network, which brings together national enforcers, and the European Consumer Centres, which provide free help and advice to consumers shopping in the Single Market.

Major obstacles to cross-border e-commerce are found on the supply side, the findings revealed.

The proportion of retailers selling to other EU countries fell to 22 per cent in 2010 (25 per cent in 2009), even though the rewards for cross-border commerce are significant: 56 per cent estimate than more than 10 per cent of their e-commerce sales come from other EU countries.

The Commission said it is pursuing a strategy to end market fragmentation, including through the recent Single Market Act.