Consumer Condition scoreboard 2019

The Consumer conditions scoreboard monitors the consumer environment across Europe through three key dimensions: knowledge and trust; compliance and enforcement; complaints and dispute resolution. It also examines progress on the EU Digital Single Market from a consumer perspective.

Here are the highlights of the 2019 scoreboard

    • After the significant improvements in consumer conditions in 2016, a fall is observed in 2018 driven mainly by a decline in consumer trust in some western European countries.
    • Consumer conditions in other regions continue to improve. Southern and eastern EU countries are narrowing the gap with the EU average, therefore making overall consumer conditions less unequal across the different regions of the EU. However, the difference between the highest scoring country (Sweden, with 71.4) and the lowest (Croatia, with 53.2) remains significant.
    • More than 70% of consumers trust retailers to respect their consumer rights and over 60% have had positive experiences with traders when making a complaint.
    • Retailers positively assess compliance with consumer legislation in their sector, and this is linked to an appreciation for enforcement activities.
    • Pressure selling is the most frequently encountered unfair commercial practice by consumers and this is corroborated by retailers’ observation on their competitors.
    • More than half of consumers are influenced by green claims when making purchases.
    • More and more consumers take up e-commerce, but they have lower confidence in buying online from other EU countries than from domestic traders.