Draft positioning papers and reports point of departure for policy
Today, Ecommerce Europe, the new European organisation for promoting the interests of webshops, held three pre-conferences around the topics: e-regulations, e-payments and e-logistics. The pre-conferences took place in Barcelona, just before the annual Global E-commerce Summit (GES).
The newly established association represents the interests – on a European level – of cross-border web shops that sell online products and/or services to consumers. The so-called pre-conferences were organised in order to gauge the vision on these topics of web shops, European institutions, stakeholders and business partners who are active in Europe.
A powerful voice in Europe
Chairman François Momboisse feels it is extremely important that the new European umbrella organisation communicates in this way – directly – with its grassroots supporters, the European institutions and the stakeholders. “We intend to continue doing this every year, just prior to the Global E-commerce Summit. This will strengthen the bond between web shops and their most important partners in dialogue. But this is not all. Throughout the year we maintain direct contact with important parties who are active in cross-border e-commerce. One of the ways we will be doing this is via our new working committees. They will feed us with ideas. In this way we know what concerns exist within the market. This is necessary in order to be able to provide European web shops with a powerful voice that will get heard.”
‘Draft positioning papers and reports’
The proposed policy of Ecommerce Europe was presented in various ‘draft positioning papers’ and reports. In these documents the brand new organisation for promoting the interests of European web shops describes its vision on e-regulations, e-payments and e-logistics. The input of European institutions, company members, business partners and stakeholders will be taken into account in determining the eventual policy which Ecommerce Europe will establish later this year. Read the draft positioning papers and reports here.
Obstacles facing web shops
The lobby organisations of seven different European countries have joined forces to form Ecommerce Europe. Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are participating in the organisation. Although the European market is officially an open market, according to Momboisse there are still many obstacles to efficient cross-border business transactions. “In some fields Europe is a veritable ‘patchwork quilt’. For example, legislation and payment transactions. This can be extremely discouraging for businesses when taking the step of approaching the international market. We want to help them by promoting their interests, providing advice and a good network.”
A growing number of web shops are members
According to Momboisse there is an great amount of interest in the new organisation. “Web shops that become member are allowed to carry the Ecommerce Europe label, thereby showing the are crossborder webshops who are committed to professional cross border e-commerce in Europe. The first 20 members and several business partners have already registered and we are receiving many requests for information.” Businesses that operate in several European countries can become full members. Leading suppliers of the e-commerce branch are welcome as business partner. Furthermore, organisations that feel they have an affinity with the European e-commerce industry can register as an associative partner.
