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Notiziario Marketpress di
Marted́ 16 Marzo 2004
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Pagina2 |
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E-CONFIDENCE POLICY CRUCIAL AS MANY CONSUMERS ARE APPREHENSIVE ABOUT ON-LINE SHOPPING |
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Brussels, 16 March 2004 - E-commerce is still not widely used in the European Union, with a meagre 16% of Eu citizens making use of the opportunities it offers. At the same time, consumers continue to be apprehensive about using the electronic marketplace. One in four consumers (25%) who do not use e-commerce do not trust the medium itself. These are the main findings of a Eurobarometer poll which the Commission published today on European Consumer Day. The Irish Council Presidency marks this year's Consumer Day by focusing public attention on the evolving European Online Marketplace. Speaking in Dublin at a conference on "Building Consumer Confidence in the European Online Marketplace" hosted by the Presidency, David Byrne, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said: "Developing a thriving e-commerce sector is vital for the competitiveness of Europe's economy. We cannot do this unless European consumers are prepared to shop on-line. Consumer confidence has to be addressed. This poll shows that trustmarks, or independent verification of a site as trustworthy, may have an important role to play in supporting consumer protection legislation and increasing confidence in online shopping. I intend to present a policy document on online consumer confidence later this year which will help focus the work in front of us". Trust is not the only factor deterring the Eu's consumers from shopping online. A majority (57%) does not buy on the Internet simply because they have no access to it. Many people prefer to go to shops and physically select the goods they want to acquire (55% of those not interested in e-commerce gave this as their main reason). Nonetheless, trust does seem to play a major role in consumers' perception of the Internet. The medium itself is seen as untrustworthy by 25% of those who do not use e-commerce, particularly as far as payments are concerned. Consumers were also sceptical of the accuracy of information given to them on-line (44% of non e-commerce users). The poll supports the findings of a focus group study published by the Commission in January, in which consumers indicated that codes of conduct and/or trustmarks (accreditation of the site as trustworthy by an independent third party) may be an effective way of increasing their confidence in e-commerce. 50% of the consumers polled who were aware of trustmark schemes said they had greater confidence in trustmarked sites. Nonetheless, only 10% of consumers are currently familiar with the concept of trustmarks. This important piece of research into Business to Consumer e-commerce in the Eu was conducted in autumn 2003 and involved face-to-face interviews with 16.124 citizens of all Eu Member States. Further information For the full text of the survey see: http://europa.Eu.int/comm/consumers/topics/facts_en.htm
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