This debate is part of the discussions that European policy makers hold ahead of the launch in May 2015 of the strategy for the completion of the Digital Single Market, ecommerce-europe.eu reports.
Mina Andreeva, Deputy Chief Spokesperson of the European Commission in charge of Digital Single Market, reaffirmed that it is top priority of the Commission to break down remaining barriers in this sector, especially the lack of trust in online shopping. The spokesperson of the Commission declared that this lack represents an obstacle to the development of the ecommerce, as only 12% of the consumers buy cross-border when shopping online. This means that there is potential that could be exploited, considering also that 19% of internet users are not using internet to shop online for security concerns. Completing the Digital Single Market will be beneficial for online merchants and consumers, as it will ease cross-border selling.
The Commission is also aware that starting to sell cross-border can be very costly for small and medium online merchants. A small shop willing to sell cross-border could attend at least EUR 2,000 of expenses per market only to adapt the contract and the website, according to the Commission’s spokesperson. The Commission is therefore working for reducing the transaction costs.
The European Commission believes that, apart from breaking down regulatory barriers, it is necessary to enable investments for the development of small and medium online shops. The investment plan launched by Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker, also contributes to small and medium enterprises if they have viable projects notably in digital areas. In this case, online businesses can apply and get funding from the European strategic fund for investments.
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