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The number of companies with an online sales channel in the European Union has stagnated. The study shows that many companies are hesitant to sell abroad, because they fear fraudulent activity.
Companies have little faith
A study from the European Commission shows that only 40 % of retailers with more than ten employees have an online sales channel. That number equals the results from 2014. Only one in five companies that sell both to customers and other companies have a web shop.
It is even more remarkable that plenty of retailers actively refuse to sell abroad, a number that has grown 8 % last year. Only 27.2 % of companies have faith in selling abroad.
Consumer shows faith
The consumer has a lot more faith in online purchase, up 21.1 % compared to 2014 (now: 57.8 %). “The consumer embraces online, but retailers have reservations. A traditional business model still does not really facilitate online sales”, Thuiswinkel.org’s Wijnand Jongen said.
Over the past ten years, the number of online shoppers doubled to 55 %. Northwestern Europe performed better than Southeastern Europe, with the United Kingdom (82.6 %) and Romania (11.6 %) at both ends of the scale. About 17 % of European online shoppers buys in other countries of the European Union and 11.3 % even looks to shops outside of the EU.
