The European Consumer Centre Luxembourg recently organised a conference concerning consumer rights, focusing on e-commerce, and the risks and the directives issued by the European Commission to protect consumers.
The online shopping boom has seen a host of changes for shoppers, who can buy nearly everything with the click of a button. However, there is never a 100% guarantee that consumers know what they're purchasing. The European Commission's Acting Director for Consumers, Marie-Paule Benassi, highlighted that there are regulations in place aimed at protecting consumers.
She emphasised two key points - one, consumers must have all the information necessary to make a good decision on purchases, and two, businesses must be prevented from tricking consumers.
The first issue is that buyers must know who exactly they are buying from, an issue exacerbated by massive online shopping platforms with many different merchants. The customer must know who is selling the products and the price must also be shown in a clear and transparent way.
As Benassi explained, sales and savings attract customers, which means that businesses cannot dupe customers. For instance, online vendors are not permitted to present a new price as 90% off when it is exactly the same price as it was previously.
If a customer sees an item purportedly reduced, then they may be incentivised to purchase it as they think it is a bargain. Further to that, items for sale online must clearly show whether there is any sponsorship involved.
If a customer searches for an item in particular, most often adverts or promoted items show up at the top of the search engine. As Benassi explains, it must be clear that these are advertised products. The base principle in e-commerce is that advertising should not be hidden and should instead be immediately visible and understandable for consumers.
Reviews, too, should not be sponsored. They should be real opinions on the products, having purchased the items in question, instead of businesses who have been paid to make fake customer profiles and write fake reviews.
Online businesses must conform to the European Commission's directives, four of which have been adapted in the omnibus directive. The issues listed must be resolved in order to guarantee the safety of online consumers.
