More than 50% of European consumers have environmental impact in mind when shopping

The European Commission released its 2019 edition of the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard. It shows that the overall gap in consumer conditions is narrowing between the different regions of the EU. Consumers are more aware of their environmental footprint and consumer rules enable trust in the marketplace.

Věra Jourová, EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality said: “The latest figures show that over 70% of consumers trust retailers to respect their rights, but they also show that work to improve consumer conditions and trust must continue. The New Deal for Consumers will further strengthen the hand of consumers and authorities. I am glad to see that consumers are increasingly aware of their environmental footprint when shopping. As the Christmas season approaches, I encourage all consumers to engage with trustworthy traders, know their rights, and indeed buy responsibly.”

The Consumer Conditions Scoreboard monitors national conditions for consumers in three areas, 'knowledge and trust', 'compliance and enforcement', and 'complaints and dispute resolution'. It also examines progress in the integration of the EU retail market and in e-commerce. Its main data sources are representative surveys with consumers and with retailers in European Member States, as well as Iceland and Norway.

Amongst the most interesting findings of the 2019 Consumer Conditions Scoreboard are:

• Growing awareness of climate warming and global plastic contamination. The survey finds that an increasing proportion of European consumers consider the environmental impact of their purchases. The more environmentally conscious EU consumers are those in southern (59%) and eastern European countries (57%). A clear majority of retailers (71%) think that environmental claims made for products or services in their sector are reliable.

• Consumer conditions decline in western Europe but continue to improve in other parts of the EU, with southern and eastern EU countries narrowing the gap with the EU average. However, the difference between the highest-scoring country (Sweden, with 71%) and the lowest (Croatia, with 53%) remains significant.

• Over 70% of EU consumers trust retailers to respect their consumer rights. Mirroring this trend, more than 70% of retailers find it easy to comply with consumer legislation. In addition, most EU retailers assess positively the enforcement of consumer and product safety legislation in their sector. The highest marks go to the enforcement of product safety legislation, where three-quarters of retailers appreciate the monitoring work of public authorities.

• Consumers buying online has reached around 60% in 2018 and continues to progress in spite of strong disparities ranging from 84% in Denmark to around 20% in Romania and Bulgaria. However, consumers' trust in buying cross-border from other EU countries (48%) is significantly lower than in domestic online buying (72%).