Press Release: SME retailers take to e-commerce but it’s strictly national

E-commerce seems to be the key to further opening the retail internal market, as 57% of retailers say they now sell via the internet. But more than two thirds of them sell exclusively domestically. And of the 29% who do sell cross-border most do to only or two other Member States. More would like to sell cross-border (48% of EU retailers are prepared to do so). These are among the main findings of a Eurobarometer survey on business attitudes towards cross-border sales, released on 8 February 2007 by the European Commission to coincide with a major consultation exercise on consumer rules. However, there are still significant barriers to an EU-wide business-to-consumer market, with perceived insecurity of transactions, differences in national fiscal regulations and consumer rules being the main concerns. Forty three percent of retailers believed that their cross-border sales would increase if laws regulating consumer transactions were the same throughout the EU.