Austrian on-line retailers are dealing with growing competitors from worldwide on-line shops, notably these from Asia. One in three orders is now positioned with platforms from that continent. The Chamber of Commerce is looking for concrete measures towards platforms equivalent to Shein and Temu.
“How can or not it’s that solely EU-based companies must adjust to a large number of necessities and reporting obligations, whereas Asian platforms that ship to Europe would not have to do the identical?”, is the rhetorical query raised by Rainer Trefelik, president of the federal commerce division of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce.
Unhealthy improvement
His feedback observe a research carried out by Johannes Kepler College Linz (JKU) on behalf of the federal government. The analysis reveals that Austrians now spend 10 p.c of their purchasing funds on-line. Nevertheless, solely 35 p.c of on-line spending goes to native gamers, whereas the remaining goes to worldwide webshops.
65% of Austrian on-line spending goes to international gamers
It’s already clear that Austrians are purchasing extra internationally than domestically. Amazon is the undisputed market chief in ecommerce in Austria, with Zalando and Ikea additionally performing nicely on-line. However now it’s the Asian platforms which might be gaining floor; one in three orders is believed to be going to Shein, Temu, and their counterparts. “They’re more and more catching as much as native gamers”, says commerce chief Trefelik, “and that’s not a wholesome improvement for Austrian retail”.
Exemption wants to finish
Advocacy teams in Austria are calling for the European threshold of 150 euros for import duties on packages from outdoors the EU, at the moment set to finish in 2028, to be abolished as quickly as doable. They’re additionally calling for stricter enforcement of present legal guidelines and rules concerning product security to create a stage enjoying area. Moreover, counterfeit retailers needs to be handled extra severely.
The German Retail Affiliation (HDE) made a related name this week, following quite a few different enterprise and shopper advocacy teams, in addition to regulatory our bodies.
