Geo-blocking in Cross-border e-Commerce in the EU Digital Single Market - Institute for Prospective Technological Studies - Digital Economy Working Paper 2016/04
A cross-border e-commerce Mystery Shopping Survey conducted in 2015, finds that the practice of erecting virtual barriers is still common in cross-border e-commerce within the EU, as it was in 2009. Electrical appliances, electronics and computer games are particularly difficult to buy online from another country. Geo-blocking often takes place at the delivery stage of the online purchase process and less often at the access stage. Larger websites can also block access according to a buyer’s IP address.
If countries trading with each other have a common language, geo-blocking will be less probable, while a common border or closeness has no effect. Travel services have a different pattern of geo-blocking from tangible goods, where geo-blocking mainly takes place at the access stage.
Price analysis shows that differentiation takes place in all sectors, but is more common in the sectors less affected by geo-blocking.
CARDONA Melisande;
2016-05-23
European Commission
JRC101438
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC101438,
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