The European Commission, in partnership with national consumer protection authorities, published a report last week on the manipulation practices of e-commerce sites.
And its conclusions are clear: on almost 400 sites studied, nearly 40% engage in manipulative or even dishonest practices. This mainly targets sites whose construction appears to be designed to deceive consumers, by giving them false information, or by concealing other information.
What is wrong with these online stores?
” You only have 45 minutes left to take advantage of our offer! How can you resist such a call? 92% off, you can’t refuse! However, the offer will not change in 45 minutes, the site operators will simply restart a countdown. You’ve probably seen one of these fake countdown timers on an e-commerce site. The practice, however, is illegal since it is simply false. It is one of the three manipulation practices targeted by this report, and of the 3,999 sites studied, 42 are concerned.
This survey revealed another very widespread practice: 54 of the online stores analyzed were, in fact, created in such a way as to clearly direct their visitors towards certain choices that were not their advantage, by strongly encouraging them to subscribe to options or subscriptions. more expensive, which they don’t really need.
Finally, 70 of the sites studied clearly concealed important information from consumers who visited them. This information may relate to cheaper delivery options or the composition of the products purchased, for example.
In addition, 27 of the 102 applications linked to one or other of these sites were affected by at least one of these three breaches.
What are the consequences for the sites concerned?
The fact that online shops are playing with the rules, when they only care about them, is not extremely surprising, especially given the risks incurred so far. But that could now change. Indeed, the next step in the process is for each national consumer protection authority to contact the sites concerned in order to ask them to comply. Otherwise, additional measures, the nature of which the report does not specify, could be taken.
This large survey was carried out within a broader framework of online consumer protection. Indeed, the more global effort will also focus on greater awareness of unfair competition practices by online professionals. Finally, a European public consultation has been set up, and you have until February 20 to contribute your two cents if you wish.
Source : French representation of the European Commission
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