More Maltese companies are selling via internet or apps than the EU average, with much higher sales to other member states and non-EU countries.
Among those EU enterprises with web sales in 2016, nearly all (97%) sold to their own country, while sales to Malta were only 91%.
However, while less than half (44%) sold to customers located in other EU member states and over a quarter (28%) to non-EU customers, these percentages in Malta were 55% for sales to other member states, and 44% for non-EU countries.
Last year, 16% of EU enterprises employing at least 10 persons received orders via a website or via apps, according to information released by Eurostat on Thursday.
Almost two in every five EU enterprises with web sales to other EU member states in 2016 reported difficulties in doing so, notably due to the costs of delivering and/or the linguistic barriers
Web sales include both sales to individual consumers and to other enterprises. The share of EU enterprises making web sales rose from 12% in 2010 to around 16% in 2014, since when it has been relatively stable.
The European Commission is aiming to create a Digital Single Market where e-commerce among member states is as smooth as the sales of a traditional brick and mortar outlet within any country. Yet, almost two in every five EU enterprises with web sales to other EU member states in 2016 reported difficulties in doing so, notably due to the costs of delivering and/or the linguistic barriers.
The largest proportions of EU enterprises with web sales in 2016 that sold to customers located in other EU member states were recorded in Cyprus (71%) and Austria (69%), followed by Luxembourg (61%), Lithuania (57%), Italy, Greece and Malta (all 55%).
Regarding commerce with non-EU countries, only in Cyprus did over half (62%) of enterprises with web sales sell to non-EU customers, followed by Malta (44%), Ireland (41%), Portugal (40%), Greece and Austria (both 39%).
The majority (59%) of EU enterprises which received orders via a website or via apps during 2016 reported no difficulties for their web sales to other EU member states. However, almost four in 10 (38%) reported hampering factors. These mainly concerned economic reasons such as the high costs of delivering or returning products (27%), technical barriers such as the lack of knowledge of foreign languages (13%) or adapting product labelling (9%), and/or judicial reasons related for instance to resolving complaints and disputes (12%).
