2578-yougov-psychonomics-2009.-mystery-shopping-evaluation-of-cross-border-e-commerce-in-the-eu

*YouGov Psychonomics, 2009. Mystery Shopping Evaluation of Cross-Border E-Commerce in the EU.*
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Name	YouGov Psychonomics, 2009. Mystery Shopping Evaluation of Cross-Border E-Commerce in the EU.
Description	E-commerce has the potential to reshape the European internal market for consumers with regard to price- and product-related comparisons. While e- commerce is steadily increasing on the national level, cross-border e- commerce is lagging behind. One reason for this can be seen in the problems that customers experience when shopping online from another EU member state. Based on real product searches and offers, mystery shoppers2 throughout the EU measured the extent to which consumers have access to real cross-border e-commerce alternatives to domestic e-commerce, the extent to which consumers can make cross-border savings compared to domestic online purchases, and how traders provide information to consumers in accordance with basic consumer protection rules and best practices.From a technical point of view, cross-border offers are widely accessible and easy to find for consumers who are searching online for them. Mystery shoppers in 27 Member States of the European Union found 3,804 domestic offers and 12,890 cross-border offers for 100 different products by searching online. The products were strictly comparable. Mystery shoppers tested the online ordering process for 10,964 cross-border offers and for 2,609 domestic offers (representing respectively 81% and 19% of a total of 13,573 online offers). The product search cast light on the great diversity, pot ential, and range of offers and market players in Europe. As a result of the product search, the shoppers found offers relating to more than 4,000 different shops. 82% of shops were only available in one language. The ratio of cross-border offers to domestic offers differs strongly depending on where the consumer is located. Mostly only cross-border offers were available to consumers in Cyprus, Malta, Luxembourg, and Lithuania. Expressions and technical terms followed by an asterisk are defined in the glossary. Mystery shoppers/testers are also called “consumers” due to fact that this term is understandable. Consumers in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, were able to find a much higher proportion of domestic offers. Consumers can save money on their purchases by shopping cross-border. Consumers in Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Denmark, Romania, Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Finland, Cyprus and Malta found cross-border offers that were at least 10% cheaper in more than 50% of the product searches, for technically accessible offers (all costs, including shipping, included). For many countries, shopping online in another country is the only possibility of finding a particular product online. Taken as a whole, consumers found only cross-border offers for approximately half of the products that had a price tag. This was particularly the case for consumers in Cyprus, Malta, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Latvia, Ireland, Belgium, Estonia, Portugal, Finland, Slovenia, Romania and Greece. However, for a majority of cross-border offers, consumers would not have been able to place an order. 61% of all cross-border offers would have failed mainly because traders refused to serve the consumer's country. Consumers were less often able to register on the website for cross-border offers than for domestic offers, because their respective country could not be selected in the registration form. Shipment to the consumer's home address was possible for 98% of domestic offers, but only for 48% of cross-border offers. 44% of cross-border offers indicated additional costs for shipment abroad as a separate price element. The average cost of shipping for domestic offers was €8 whereas it was €16 for cross-border offers. Free delivery was more often indicated for domestic offers than for cross-border offers. The delivery time indicated for domestic offers was on average four days, compared to seven days for cross-border offers. Compared to domestic offers, most payment options are less readily available for cross-border offers, with the notable exception of credit card payments and of PayPal and similar systems. However, when credit card payment was tested, for about 60% of the offers, the shop refused the consumer's credit card. In a fifth of cross-border offers, consumers found restrictions regarding the payment options or the transaction, for example age restrictions or geographical restrictions related to the address of the cardholder. Redirection to another shop during the product search occurred infrequently (4% of all the offers). During the ordering process, shops redirected consumers to another website in 2% of all the offers.Shops offered the possibility to convert currencies for only 8% of all the offers. For those offers where price conversion was possible, they provided information about the exchange rate in fewer than 2% of cases.86% of the offers that showed the final price of the product contained details on the various elements of the final price such as VAT, shipment costs, etc. 14% showed no further details on the final price, which makes it difficult for consumers to know what they are being charged for. 24% of offers advertised special offers or a reduced price in connection with the product. However, only 6% of special offers provided information on the period for which the special offer or reduced price remained valid, which may be misleading for consumers. Consumers found the terms and conditions on the online shop for 93% of offers. For a high percentage of cross-border offers, the terms and conditions were provided in the consumer's language, but not always. In 87% of all the offers, the consumers found information on the protection and handling of personal data. Nearly all the online shops presented information on their identity. For more than one-third of all offers, online shops offered a commercial guarantee. For 42% of offers, shops offered no commercial guarantee. For another 23% of offers, the information provided was unclear and consumers couldn't tell whether it referred to a commercial guarantee or not. It is important that traders make clear that the consumer’s legal rights are not affected by the commercial guarantee since the latter may sometimes not offer the same advantages that the consumer would otherwise enjoy under the statutory guarantee period. In the offers where a commercial guarantee was indicated, 35% clearly stated that the commercial guarantee would not affect the consumer's legal rights. 29% provided no such information. 36% provided unclear information and consumers could not tell if their legal rights would actually be affected by the commercial guarantee or not. The average guarantee period observed for commercial guarantees was 22 months. In about three-quarters of all offers, the guarantee period ranged between 12 and 36 months. 90% of offers provided information on the right of withdrawal. The average cooling-off period observed on the websites was equal or longer than the period defined in the national legislation. However, only in approximately two- thirds of offers did the website explain how consumers would be refunded in case they decided to return the product. 68% of the offers were subject to special conditions regarding the right of withdrawal (for example returning the article unsealed), which may limit the ability of consumers to exercise their right of withdrawal. For 91% of offers, consumers found information on customer support. Customer support was available in the consumer's language for 87% of cross- border offers whereas this was always the case for domestic offers. The communication channel most widely available to contact the online shops was email (81% of offers), followed by mail/post (62% of offers). Most shops provided 4 or 5 communication channels. Pre-ticked boxes were presented to consumers during the ordering process for 36% of all offers. They most often concerned the agreement to receive promotional information (62% of offers), followed by the acceptance of the terms and conditions (25% of offers), and predefined payment and shipment options (approximately 20% and 18% of offers respectively).
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