The recently published 2016 edition of the Consumer Markets Scoreboard provides an overview of EU citizens’ assessment of the performance of key consumer goods and services markets based on data collected in 2015.
The study is based on EU consumers’ ratings of 42 markets, of which 29 are service markets and 13 are goods markets, accounting together for 45 per cent of consumer expenditure.
Market performance is measured by the Market Performance Indicator, a composite index made up of five components: comparability of offers, trust in businesses to respect consumer protection rules, the extent to which markets live up to what consumers expect, choice of retailers/suppliers and the degree to which problems experienced in the market cause detriment.
The ratings show there has been an improvement in market performance since the last scorboard in 2014. This scoreboard reveals that consumers’ top three good markets are books, magazines and newspapers; the market for entertainment goods (e.g. toys and games) and large household appliances, such as fridges. As for services, consumers’ three top-ranking markets are leisure-related, ranging from holiday accommodation to cultural and entertainment services and sport services, such as gyms.
Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourova, attributes this improvement to the introduction of consumer-friendly rules, market reforms and also to effective enforcement of consumer rules.
The 2016 Scoreboard ranks Malta as one of the top three out of the 28 Member State countries in eight goods and 13 service markets. Malta’s results show that all good markets performed better than the EU28 average. The top three good markets in Malta are ‘meat and meat products’, ‘non-prescription medicines’ and ‘fruit and vegetables’. The top three services markets in Malta are ‘holiday accommodation’, ‘airline services’ and ‘package holiday and tours’. In both goods and service markets the average comparability, trust and expectations have increased.
The Consumer Market Scoreboard is a very useful tool for national policymakers and stakeholders as it can be used to assess the impact of policy over time and compare how their country is faring with other Member States. With regards to the European Commission, the findings of the Consumer Markets Scoreboard are used as evidence to develop future policy. For instance, this year’s scoreboard reports consumer difficulties when dealing with the telecommunications markets. To resolve these difficulties, the Commission will in the near future come up with a proposal in this area to address these issues. The recent Digital Contracts proposals have in fact come into being as a means to improve consumers’ trust in cross-border purchases online.
Key findings
• Improvement in consumers’ assessment of the performance across the markets surveyed. This improvement may be linked to recent and on-going product and services markets reforms.
• Market performance remains uneven across different Member States and sectors. This means that there is still considerable scope for improvement through national structural reforms and a more effective enforcement of the consumer protection rules.
• An in-depth socio-demographic analysis shows that the assessment of market performance is mostly influenced by the financial situation of consumers and their education.
• Financial services markets show the biggest progress. This suggests that recent legislative initiatives in areas such as payment accounts and mortgage credit, effective enforcement and awareness raising efforts are starting to bear fruit.
• Goods markets continue to be more favourably assessed than services markets, despite strong improvement for the latter.
• More consumers switched supplier, but switching remains difficult in some markets. For the first time the Scoreboard also looks into the reasons that hindered consumers from switching supplier. The main obstacles are that either consumers think that it is difficult/complicated to switch supplier or they tried to switch but faced obstacles.
odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt
Odette Vella is director,Information, Education and Research Directorate, Office for Consumer Affairs, Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.