Provision of two online consumer surveys as support and evidence base to a Commission study : Identifying the maincross-border obstacles to the Digital Single Market and where they matter most ; Final report

The present report was based on data collected within the scope of a wider investigation that feeds into one of the Commission’s top priorities: to create a borderless Digital Single Market (DSM) across Europe. The Commission’s DSM strategy for Europe, announced on May 6, 2015, aims to provide better access to tangible and digital goods and services, to create the right environment for the development and commercial success of digital innovation, and to maximise the growth of the digital economy across the EU28. As support and evidence base, two surveys of online consumers were carried out, looking particularly into their purchase activity for 12 types of tangible goods and offline services (e.g. clothes, travel services), usage of 4 types of online services (e.g. communication services) and access to 8 types of digital content (e.g. e-books). These included a core survey (covering online consumers from all EU28, Norway and Iceland) and a clickstream survey (targeted to online respondents from Belgium and Poland only who had expressed the intention to make at least one immediate online purchase). The main objectives of the study were: 1) to examine the current state of play of cross-border e-commerce in the EU28 and 2) to identify the main drivers and barriers to the proper functioning of a DSM across the EU.