The document discusses challenges and recommendations around e-commerce from an online discussion group. It covers topics like barriers to e-commerce like payments and regulations; trustmarks to increase small business opportunities; mobile payments needs, methods, and privacy concerns; and the role of standards, companies, and policies. Key issues included how to help small sellers, payment harmonization, data privacy, and enabling innovative low-cost payment solutions.

2. Headlines from the group ”E-commerce”
Key data on online engagement: platform
On platform: 62 members, 26 discussions, 127 comments
1 special initiatives: Discussion paper about trustmarks (20 comments)
Most discussed: Most active:
Mobile payments and wallets 36
Electronic marketplace? (App store, Android market, Thierry Nabeth
Amazon, ...) 14 Stephan Engberg
E-commerce in the EU - so what's the issue? 9
e-Commerce and Open Data 5 Henryk Kulakowski
Tax harmonisation 4 Jeremy Mears
Trustmarks 4

3. Key data on online engagement: twitter
Most Most active
RT

4. Wordcloud overall discussion

5. Headlines from the group ”E-commerce”
Topic 1: E-commerce barriers
Challenges
• How do small e-tailers get discovered and trusted, especially cross-border? ->
Topic 2
• How do e-tailers deal with the plethora of payment methods in Europe
• How can we make it easier to find online products?
• How do we change VAT to create a level playing field for merchants?
• Contract law is inhibiting some e-commerce sectors
Actions recommended and commitments made
• Payments – many commercial online payment aggregators (MyBank, iDeal,
Skrill, Adyen, Wirecard, WorldPay, GlobalConnect…..and many more)
• VAT shifting from merchant to consumer domicile basis – reduces impact of
merchant location
• Find products online - support the use of semantic meta-data that enable
simpler, (and automated) integration of e-commerce data (eg OpenFoodFacts in
France).
• Businesses, particularly SMEs must support the proposed European Sales Law
(to prevent contract law inhibiting ecommerce)

6. Highlighted quotes
Ystats: In Eastern European B2C E-Commerce, many payments are still made in
cash, but the Eastern European market for online payments continues to grow.
Gianluigi Cuccureddu: Markets in general and Europe especially does NOT gain
from this massive concentration of power with middlemen brokers in infrastructure
taking all the profits [related to travel aggregation sites)
Rebentisch: A supply side "right to appear" corresponds to the user-centric
interest to find relevant content. It is better for the search intermediaries to serve
the users than the providers of content
Laurence: VAT and other taxes vary considerably across the EU. This frequently
impacts where e-commerce and other digital media business locate themselves.
European Blind Union: E-payments all currently present features that make them
inaccessible to people with sight loss.
ERADARtweet: It's a scandal and damaging to the European Single Market that
the majority of e-commerce cross border contracts are still failing for one reason or
another.
Gianluigi Cuccureddu: From a customer point of perspective, if a local (national)
organization can provide a good, why should they look beyond?

7. Headlines from the group ”E-commerce”
Topic 2: Trust and trustmarks
Challenges
• Create a stakeholder owned trust mark scheme for Europe to level the playing
field for small retailers and increase cross-border e-commerce
• Fraudulent websites contain the most “trustmarks”
• Trustmarks to prove non-fraudulent sites, or to show level of service?
• Scepticism that trustmarks can work at all
Actions recommended and commitments made
• Many trustmark initiatives have been proposed to the EU
• Rationalisation needed – some countries have too many trustmarks (eg NL)
• Some doubt the ability of a trustmark to work
• Create a European trusted e-commerce marketplace (a defacto trust mark)

8. Highlighted quotes
Andrew McLelland: beware of asking online businesses to display lots of 'badges'
on their sites. Online 'real estate' is just as valuable as its counterpart in-store.
AnkaL: When I try to buy on webstores in the EU I usually put a lot of effort to find
whether the webstore is "real" or phishing.
griff (forwarding verbal comments): Amazon is a retailer AND a marketplace
owner. Some e-commerce retailers are telling me that this is unfair competition
Ystats.com: A Europe-wide mandatory online shop security accreditation system
might be the answer
tbikeev: engberg is also right in noticing that trust-mark would not change much
here (re Amazon/eBay dominance).
PolicyBloggers: while the motivations are good .. the reality may be harder ..
what if each region EU LATAM USA Japan INDIA CHINA create similar
regulations for their own regions…
EMOTA: traders need to spend more efforts than ever on satisfying consumer
expectations regarding the quality of products and services
Nabeth-thierry: Do we have anything about supporting the development of
electronic marketplace in Europe
Tonyfish: On trust - this is a bit of rabbit hole as we would love to think we can
code Trust and write the algorithm but we cannot.

9. Headlines from the group ”E-commerce”
Topic 3: Mobile payments – need and privacy
Challenges
• Is there a need
• Simple replacement of cards won’t work
• Most suggested schemes relay on selling user data – what about privacy?
• Smartphones are still not ubiquitous – need to work on regular phones too
Actions recommended and commitments made
• Most solutions are specific company sponsored infrastructure -> see topic 4
• Decide level of policy intervention needed, if any
Highlighted quotes
Engberg: show me just one way available for empowered citizens to pay without
they and the provider loosing data control, ie. without linking who with what to a
3rd party?
Henryk: …we should look for other, widely available technology/solutions [than
NFC]. If m-payment wants to be a service for mass-market….. Can m-payment be
as simple as phone call? In my opinion - yes it can.

10. Headlines from the group ”E-commerce”
Topic 4: Mobile payments - methods
Challenges
• Security
• Standards and Ubiquity
• Communicate via RF/camera/other or via mobile internet (pre-registered)
• Role of telco, bank, merchant, technology supplier (GOOG, AAPL etc)
• Payment mechanism must work across Europe (ie not just credit card linked)
Actions recommended and commitments made
• To enable cashless low value payments, reduce payments infrastructure cost
rather than just moving it around the value chain
• Many, many suggested schemes from banks, telcos, technology
companies, retailers.

11. Topic 4: Mobile payments - methods
Highlighted quotes
Mirek.kula: Several last years have been called the Year of NFC, and yet, thus
far, there is not much to celebrate. Why? Will this change? If so, how?
Nebo.d: the move to electronic payments …is running into a roadblock due to a
payment system architecture dating from the 1970’s and a cost structure that is
incompatible with very small, high volume transactions…With over 70% of cash
retail purchases being low value payments in Europe, you can see the urgency in
finding a solution to this problem
Eurosmart: Security and interoperability are key factors
Henryk: We should enable access to bank accounts for independent payment
providers…GSM network have a lot of features which can help to better secure
and simplify m-payments without additional expensive or inconvenient technology.
But not all are commercially available….. in my opinion NFC m-payment will exist
but will not dominate the market. Why? Because is competitive to cheaper
contactless cards and can't be remote.
Engberg: NFC is not a payment technology, but a low-security communication
protocol. The very idea of using proximity as authoisation is invititing to fraud.