I was really surprised yesterday to read in one of the major Bulgarian business newspapers that only 4% of the Bulgarian citizens use internet to buy goods. Even if I haven’t made it yet, the low ratio of e-commerce in my country was such a shock. Then I took a look at the other stats and saw a huge gap between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ members of the Union. In fact the Scandinavians trade over the net about 30 times more than users in Romania, for example.
Here are some raw statistics from the official ‘Report on cross-border e-commerce in the EU’:
“In the UK in 2008, 57% of individuals had ordered goods or services over
the internet for private use in the last year. In Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands the
corresponding figure was also over 50%. In the two newest Member States, Bulgaria and
Romania, however, the figure was respectively 3% and 4%. Estonia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy
and Portugal saw around 10% of individuals purchasing online for private use in 2008.
According to the Fédération du e-commerce et de la vente à distance (FEVAD), 66% of
internet users in France have made a purchase online. In Germany in 2007, 58.3% of
individuals who had used the internet in the previous three months shopped online
occasionally or frequently. In the Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and
Iceland), 91% of internet users had traded over the internet in the previous six months.”
I was wondering what were the reasons for the huge differences. Lack of trust? The financial crisis? Bad experience? Probably all f the above. So “Brussels, we have a problem!” I don’t know about the differences between Estonian and German bloggers for example, but obviously there is a gap between the Estonian and German e-consumers.
My personal reasons not to trade over internet are simple. I’m not sure if someone wouldn’t use my personal data to empty my bank account. Or whether the purchased product will be good enough as described. And according to researches, it is the same with many of the users around the EU.
But how could this be changed. There are now some new steps in order to smooth over the problem. According to an official statement of the leading world international law organization DLA Piper, the Belgian office of the company has been selected by the European Commission to undertake a study reviewing the European legal framework for online services, to assess its gaps, future readiness and implementation hurdles. It also appears that new revised E-commerce Directive is expected to be launched in October 2009.
Not quite sure if that Directive would enforce I-net users to buy more goods online. I’m still not paying if travel cost remain half of the price of my purchase. Well, I could keep using torrent trackers to save money from audio-visual products to buy some books via Amazon but you must agree that E-commerce should lighten things, not make it harder.
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In western Europe, increasingly, you have almost no choice but to use e-commerce. For example you can virtually only buy a Ryanair ticket online, and soon you will only be able to check in on line.
Service products in particular - e.g. travel, holidays, tickets of all kinds - are much cheaper to deliver on-line than off-line, and so long as the savings are passed on to consumers I don’t have a problem with this.
A lot depends on how used people are on electronic transactions - credit cards, cash cards etc. as I would prefer to give my details to a server than to a real person on the phone who might abuse it even if his/her company doesn’t do so.
Ultimately, I doubt whether people will have much choice but to use e-commerce, but it is up to the regulatory agencies to ensure that their privacy and cash is safe when doing so. Perhaps a strengthening of EU laws in this regard is something the next EP could focus on?
I don’t know about the differences between Estonian and German bloggers for example, but obviously there is a gap between the Estonian and German e-consumers.
Lack of marketing and retailer presence, mostly. The 10% of Estonians who buy online are the ones who care to figure out how to order stuff from amazon.co.uk (but not amazon.com, because if the package is shipped from the US, it’s subject to import tariffs). I’ve actually bought things from both international and local e-commerce sites.
I’m not sure if someone wouldn’t use my personal data to empty my bank account.
For purely technical reasons, this is unlikely: the reason that most online retailers accept credit cards, but not debit cards, is because both Visa and Mastercard offer full fraud protection. If there’s a fraudulent charge on your card, the money will be returned to you.
A good point is that there are plenty of European structural funds in the Sectoral Operational Programme Increasing Economic Competitivity that can boost e-commerce. Companies can finance up to 95% of their investments in e-commerce through non refundable EU grants.
Could you recommend any good books on the subject?