Yesterday, the Commission published the 2017 edition of the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard.
Next to the observation that the share of consumers buying online has pretty much doubled over the last 10 years (from 29.7% in 2007 to 55% in 2017), the most striking finding is that consumer trust has increased quite dramatically since the 2015 edition. The study records a 12 points increase of trust vis à vis "national" retailers and 21 points(!) improvement when ordering cross-borders.
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| copyright European Union |
The study also checked whether consumers were aware of certain key rights (right to return a product bought at distance within
14 days without giving any reason; right to a replacement and/or the repair of faulty products; right to neither pay nor return unsolicited products) that they enjoyed when shopping online. Only 12% of the surveyed consumers gave correct answers in respect of all three rights, showing 3 points improvement compared to 2015.
While the study also investigated complaints and dispute resolution and paid some attention to the issue of vulnerability, the results are less striking in these areas.
The full report can be downloaded here and a factsheet can be downloaded under yesterday's press release.
