Croatian consumers do not have a particularly high opinion on online shopping.
European Commissioner Vera Jourova, responsible for justice, consumers and gender equality, presented in Brussels the annual Consumer Conditions Scoreboard, a consumer spending and consumer rights report. Croatia has once again been named as one of the worst EU members states in the area of consumer knowledge and trust, as well as in respecting and enforcing existing online shopping rules, reports Index.hr on 30 July 2017.
The number of Europeans who buy online has almost doubled in the past ten years, from 29 percent to 55 percent, and on average, confidence in online shopping has been growing, by as much as 12 percent compared to last year's report when it comes to orders from consumers’ own country, and 21 percent when goods are ordered from another member of the European Union.
The Consumer Conditions Scoreboard (CCS) shows that more and more consumers know their rights and that the fundamental problem is that online shopping functions much better in the north and west of the European Union than in the east and south.
The CCS measures three key categories in the field of online shopping: the first relates to knowledge and trust, the second to respecting and enforcing the rules, while the third involves consumer complaints and dispute resolution. Croatia is among the worst members in two of these three categories.
Only 45 percent of citizens of the Republic of Croatia have enough knowledge and trust in online shopping, while the EU average is 59.3 percent. Citizens in France, Germany and Austria (65-66 percent) have the most confidence in online shopping, while Romania (44.5 percent) and Greece (44 percent) are at the bottom of the rankings, together with Croatia.
In this category, Croatia is 14 percent under the European average, while in the category of respecting and enforcing the rules, compared to the EU average of 75 percent, Croatia is 12 percent under the average, with just 63.1 percent of citizens believing that online shopping is taking place according to the rules. Croatia is joined at the bottom with Bulgaria (61.1 percent) and Poland (60.6 percent). On the other side of the rankings, France, Great Britain and Luxembourg, with scores of 83 and 84 percent of citizens who believe that online stores comply with the applicable rules, are at the very top.
In the complaints and dispute resolution category, 55 percent of Croatian respondents say they are satisfied. The EU average is 60.3 percent, and Croatia is placed at the 21st position among 28 countries.
Translated from Index.hr.
