european study - geo blocking - simon quaschning, business expert of gfk

Territorial Restrictions

and Geo-Blocking

in E-Commerce Simon Quaschning

Business Expert

GfK Belgium PS

Mystery shopping carried out under the request of the European Commission (DG Justice and Consumers)

Prevalence

and

characteristics

of geo-blocking

Broad-based

approach,

purely

consumer

perspective

Two

perspectives:

shopper origin

vs.

website origin

2 eTrade Summit, 27 September, 2016

Study Objectives Investigate geo-blocking as a barrier to online cross-border

trade

3

143

country

pairs

8

sectors

9

websites

per

sector

TOTAL

10,296 X X =

Methodology

Clothing, shoes & accessories

Travel services (e.g. hotels,

transport)

Electronics & computer

hardware

Books

Focus on sectors with high penetration:

a) 6 tangible goods

b) 2 online services

eTrade Summit, 27 September, 2016

Electrical household appliance

Online reservations of offline

leisure (e.g. event tickets)

Cosmetics & healthcare

products

Computer games and software

Number of mystery

shopping exercises

in Belgium

Shopper origin n=369

Website origin n=213

EU28-wide Mystery Shopping survey

Stages of the

shopping

process

Forms of

geo-blocking

and

territorial

restrictions

Denial of access to a

website

Automatic re-routing

Refusal to sell

Changing the Terms &

Conditions and/or

prices


Overall geo-

blocking per

shopping stage


9%

6%

35%

27%

34%

20%

18%

26%

Retailers

Geoblocking - Belgium

Access Registration Delivery Payment

Overall 66%

Overall 57%Shoppers

Note: all data presented on this slide is unweighted


Geo-blocking prevalence by direction of

trade (EU28)

7

Geo-blocking prevalence by sector (EU28)


8

Geo

-blo

ckin

g p

revale

nce b

y

co

un

try p

air


The

Access

Stage

6%

30%

44%

16%

4%

Quite

difficult


Website access

Content differences

The

Access

Stage

6%

30%

44%

16%

4%

Quite

difficult

Quite

easy

Very

easy

10

vs.


6%

30%

44%

16%

4%

Quite

difficult


The

Access

Stage Website language

Product availability

The

Access

Stage

6%

30%

44%

16%

4%

Quite

easy

12

vs.


The

Registration

Stage

6%

30%

44%

16%

4%

Quite

difficult

Neither

difficult

nor easy

Quite

easy

13

Registration

requirements E-mail

Physical address

Telephone number

Means of payment

Activating

an account via e-mail

Yes,

registration was required

EU28 93% 88% 76% 20% 14% 92%

Belgium 92% 91% 75% 7% 6% 96%

Requirements

Problems

Registration

problems

Foreign

delivery

address

Foreign

billing

address

Foreign

telephone

number

Postal

code

E-mail

address

Payment

details

Redirected

to other

website

Problems

encountered

overall

EU28 65% 9% 6% 11% 3% 8% 1% 46%

Belgium

(retailers) 57% 22% 10% 20% 2% 4% 0% 54%

Belgium

(shoppers) 60% 8% 7% 18% 4% 2% 1% 40%


The

Registration

Stage

6%

44%

16%

4%

Quite

easy

14

vs.


30%

16% Quite

easy

15

Price differences

before registration


The

Registration

Stage

Price differences

after registration

The

Delivery

Stage

6%

16%

4%

Quite

easy


Delivery

Restrictions

45%

21%

20%

38%

11%

6%

4%

7%

13%

35%

33%

27%

4%

7%

3%

32%

34%

36%

26%

Marketplaces

Small retailers

Medium retailers

Large retailers

Retailer size

Only the country where the seller is based

Several EU28 countries, but not the country where the consumer is based

The country where the consumer is based (in addition to the seller country)

Several EU28 countries and the country where the consumer is based

All EU28 countries

30%


The

Delivery

Stage

The

Delivery

Stage

Quite

difficult


4%

10%

14%

28%

28%

34%

44%

49%

2%

3%

1%

5%

11%

7%

7%

9%

41%

31%

43%

30%

31%

28%

23%

28%

1%

2%

1%

6%

8%

6%

7%

5%

51%

55%

41%

31%

22%

26%

19%

9%

Travel services

Books

Online reservations of offlineleisure


Cosmetics and healthcareproducts

Clothing, shoes and accessories

Electronics & computer hardware

Electrical household appliances

By sector

Only the country where the seller is based;

Several EU28 countries, but not the country where the consumer is based;

The country where the consumer is based (in addition to the seller country);

Several EU28 countries and the country where the consumer is based;

All EU28 countries.

4%

10%

14%

28%

28%

34%

44%

49%

2%

3%

1%

5%

11%

7%

7%

9%

41%

31%

43%

30%

31%

28%

23%

28%

1%

2%

1%

6%

8%

6%

7%

5%

51%

55%

41%

31%

22%

26%

19%

9%

Travel services

Books

Online reservations of offlineleisure


Cosmetics and healthcareproducts

Clothing, shoes and accessories

Electronics & computer hardware

Electrical household appliances

By sector

Only the country where the seller is based;

Several EU28 countries, but not the country where the consumer is based;

The country where the consumer is based (in addition to the seller country);

Several EU28 countries and the country where the consumer is based;

All EU28 countries.

Delivery Restrictions

per Sector

The

Delivery

Stage

Quite

difficult


Information on

delivery restrictions (EU28)

The

Payment

Stage

6%

44%

16%

4%

Neither

difficult

nor easy


vs.

4%


The

Payment

Stage Geo-blocking per

Retailer Size (EU28)

36%

4%8%13%

7%

6%

4%

1%

14%

7%

Payment errors

Authorisation error

Data error

General error

Cancelled payment

Card declined / insufficient funds

Use alternative payment details /method

Confirmation awaiting

Other

Success: booking accepted

Success: payment accepted

Payment errors The

Payment

Stage

eTrade Summit, 27 September, 2016 22

Consumer Awareness (GFK) 23

Key Findings

Delivery is one of the

key factors driving geo-blocking

Traders for bigger goods

are more likely to geo-block

Tangible products > services

Payment methods

block consumers

Consumers waste a lot of time

on geo-blocking

small vs. large companies

small vs. large companies

[email protected]

Disclaimer: GfK is responsible for the provision and accuracy of all data

Please find the full report on: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consumer_evidence/market_studies/geo-

blocking/index_en.htm

Thank you!