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2017 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

E-Commerce in Europe: Parcel Delivery Prices in a Digital Single Market

verfasst von : J. Scott Marcus, Georgios Petropoulos

Erschienen in: The Changing Postal and Delivery Sector

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

There have been long-standing policy concerns that high retail prices charged for cross-border parcel delivery service may be impeding the growth of e-commerce in Europe, and with it the completion of a Digital Single Market (DSM) in the European Union. The European Commission has just proposed a legislative measure that seeks to increase the transparency of cross-border prices and also to reduce them.

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Vorheriges Kapitel Protecting Consumers Using Postal and E-Commerce Delivery Services in Competitive European Markets

Nächstes Kapitel U.S. Postal Markets and Delivery Liberalization: A Simulation Approach

Under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), a Regulation is binding on the Member States to which it applies. It is thus different from a Directive, which must be transposed into national law before it can take effect.

FTI (2011); study completed for the European Commission (DG Enterprise).

See FTI (2011): “[S]mall senders (individuals, micro and small enterprises) … either pay full price (as published in the publicly available price list of the delivery operator), or obtain small discounts on both domestic and cross-border products …”.

EurActiv and Digital Europe (2016), “How Digital is the EU in 2015?”, at http://www.digitaleurope.org/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?Command=Core_Download&entryID=921&PortalId=0&TabId=353, viewed 9 April 2016. See also European Commission (2015), “A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe – Analysis and Evidence”, SWD(2015) 100 Final: “While 17 % of SMEs in the EU sell online (which is already very low), only 7 % sell cross-border to other EU countries.”.

See also European Commission (2013).

The desire to obtain these gains in trade is the reason why countries seek Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

It is sometimes argued that goods are not necessarily shipped from the country associated with the website (see Henrik Okholm et al. (2016), “Principles of e-commerce delivery prices”, Copenhagen Economics, page 11: “In fact, a large share of online transactions that are perceived as domestic by consumers involve a cross-border element.”). This is correct, and reflects a beneficial cost optimisation on the part of the shipper, but is somewhat irrelevant to the concern that fulfilment centres are not necessarily placed where they would be if the delivery were fully reflective of cost.

See for instance Okholm et al. (2016), Copenhagen Economics, Principles of E-Commerce Parcel Prices, pages 21–24.

All prices are based on a review of NPO websites during the first four months of 2016.

This is consistent with an observation in the FTI (2011) study that economic distortions are less significant in the six largest Member States than in many others. The coefficient of variation in these six countries (i.e. the standard deviation divided by the mean, which provides a normalised measure of variability) ranges as a function of weight from 0.81 to 1.19, which is quite large.

There are also competitors that offer nationwide parcel delivery service, such as UPS.

We acknowledge that there are limitations in these comparisons. First, here are challenges in comparing services that are not quite identical. In addition, US postal prices are low by global standards. Nonetheless, the rough comparison is close enough to enable indicative comparisons.

We generally use prices to Zone 1, subject however to the caveat that Zone 1 is defined differently in each Member State.

For domestic prices, USPS Zone 1–2 prices (covering distances of up to 150 miles or roughly 241 km) serve as the benchmark. For cross-border prices, USPS Zone 4 prices (covering distances of up to 600 miles or roughly 966 km) serve as the benchmark. Note that Zone 5 prices (up to 1000 miles) are not much different—they are 8–13 % higher than Zone 4, depending on the weight of the parcel.

Based on euro/USD exchange rates as of the first week of May 2016.

The original Regulation was “Regulation (EC) No 717/2007 of the European Parliament and of The Council of 27 June 2007 on roaming on public mobile telephone networks within the Community and amending Directive 2002/21/EC”. It was subsequently amended in 2009, 2012, and most recently with Regulation 2015/2120. With international mobile roaming, a mobile phone subscriber places or receives calls or SMS messages or uses mobile data services in a country other than the country in which he or she has his subscription.

Prior to regulation in 2007, wholesale charges were roughly €1.00 per minute for calls made, and retail prices roughly €1.30 per minute (Stumpf 2001).

See for instance Campbell (2014a) and especially Campbell (2014b).

An analogous form of arbitrage came into play in conjunction with the Low Value Consignment Rule (LVCR) exemption from VAT, under which magazines were printed in Denmark, then shipped to the Åland Islands and shipped back to Denmark in order to avoid paying Danish VAT.

See for instance Guo (2014) and Steiner (2016). The issue is by no means confined to the United States.

The difference may also reflect the preferences of developing countries, who represent the majority of UPU members, and may moreover reflect the fact that in the distant past, there were no charges at all.

COM(2016) 285 final.

Parcel delivery services that are small (fewer than 50 employees) and that operate only within a single Member State are exempted.

Armstrong, M. (1998). Network interconnection in telecommunications. Economics Journal, 108, 545–564.

BEREC. (2016). International roaming: BEREC benchmark data report, April–September 2015, BoR (16) 28 Rev.1.

Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), and European Regulators Group for Postal Services (ERGP). (2015). Price transparency and regulatory oversight of cross-border parcels delivery, taking into account possible regulatory insights from the electronic communications sector: Joint BEREC-ERGP opinion. BoR, 15, 214.

Brune, D. (2013). E-commerce and opportunities for cross-border parcels in Europe, presentation at the 14th Königswinter seminar on postal economics.

Campbell, J. I Jr. (2014a). Draft proposals for the UPU Istanbul congress—Terminal dues, Available at www.state.gov/documents/organization/232813.pdf, Accessed May 14, 2016.

Campbell, J. I Jr. (2014b). Estimating the effects of UPU terminal dues, 2014–2017. In 8th bi-annual postal economics conference on e-commerce, digital economy and delivery services, Toulouse.

Certain Public Postal Operators. (1997). Agreement for the remuneration of mandatory deliveries of cross border mails (REIMS II).

Claes, A., & Vergote, W. (2016). Econometric study on parcel list prices, Available at http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/14647, Accessed May 14, 2016.

E-commerce Europe. (2015). 2014 Key B2C E-commerce Data of Goods & Services at a Glance.

European Commission. (1992). Green paper on the development of the single market for postal services, COM (91) 476 final.

European Commission. (2013). Mergers: Commission prohibits proposed acquisition of TNT express by UPS—frequently asked questions, Available at http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-48_en.htm, Accessed May 14, 2016.

European Commission. (2015). A digital single market strategy for Europe, SWD (2015) 100 final.

Eurostat. (2015). Companies engaged in online activities: Report, Flash Eurobarometer 413.

Eurostat. (2016). E-commerce statistics for individuals, Available at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/E-commerce_statistics_for_individuals, Accessed April 9, 2016.

FTI Consulting. (2011). Community cross-border parcel delivery, study for European Commission, Directorate General Internal Markets and Services.

Guo, J. (2014). The postal service is losing millions a year to help you buy cheap stuff from China, Washington Post, Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/12/the-postal-service-is-losing-millions-a-year-to-help-you-buy-cheap-stuff-from-china/

Laffont, J.-J., Rey, P., & Tirole, J. (1998a). Network competition I: Overview and nondiscriminatory pricing. RAND Journal of Economics, 29, 1–37.CrossRef

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Marcus, J. S., Christin-Isabel, G., & Clarke, R. (2015). International mobile roaming (IMR) across the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) region, consultation and report prepared for the Gulf Corporation Council roaming working group.

Marcus, J. S., & Petropoulos, G. (2016a). E-commerce in Europe: Parcel delivery prices in a digital single market, Bruegel.

Marcus, J. S., & Petropoulos, G. (2016b). Challenging prospects for roam like at home, Bruegel.

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Okholm, H. B., Boivie, A. M., Edkins, S., & Gårdebrink, J. (2015). Quantification of financial transfers caused by Universal Postal Union terminal dues: Final report, Copenhagen Economics, prepared for the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission, available at: http://www.prc.gov/sites/default/files/papers/Quantification%20of%20financial%20transfers%20caused%20by%20Universal%20Postal%20Union%20terminal%20dues_final%20report.pdf

Okholm, H. B., Boivie, A. M., Wahl, J. S., Jensen, K., Nygard, A., & Basalisco, B. (2016). “Principles of e-commerce parcel prices” Copenhagen economics, prepared for PostEurop, Available at: https://www.copenhageneconomics.com/publications/publication/principles-of-e-commerce-delivery-prices

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Steiner, I. (2016). Online sellers fume over low epacket postal rates from China, eCOMMERCE Bytes, Available at http://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2016/1/1453344622.html

Stumpf, U. (2001). Prospects for improving competition in mobile roaming, WIK Report Nr. 232, Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.

Titel: E-Commerce in Europe: Parcel Delivery Prices in a Digital Single Market
verfasst von: J. Scott Marcus
Georgios Petropoulos
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: The Changing Postal and Delivery Sector
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46045-1

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-46046-8

Copyright-Jahr: 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46046-8_10