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by Michelle McSweeney
July 09, 2019
Here are 4 of the key regulations concerning European eCommerce that ALL merchants need to know about…
GDPR
We all remember the countdown to GDPR that ensued for the first half of 2018, but just because D-Day has come and gone, it doesn’t mean that merchants can throw caution to the wind when expanding into new territories.
Make sure that all of the provisions are in place to deal with customer data in multiple countries – that includes photos, social media posts, IP addresses, bank details, and any identifying numbers. Remember that all data, regardless of the origin of the customer needs to be opt-in with customer permission, and stored securely.
Geoblocking
As and from 3 December 2018, customers cannot be discriminated against
based on the country they are located in. Therefore, you need to ensure that your website is enabled to allow visitors to purchase items from your website in the currency of their choice. Gone are the days that retailers can convert their price catalogue into multiple currencies and throw on an extra charge just for good measure, leaving users in a specific region with no choice but to buy your products at an inflated price. Being transparent about your prices and conversions is crucial to cross-border trading. Geoblocking laws are due to be fully reviewed and investigated in 2020.
More to explore
In the next few years, we are foreseeing an impressive increase for the global retail industry. While this can be beneficial for the global eCommerce industry, it also means that there will be more competition, as well.
European Data Protection rules were launched back in 2018, to protect the confidentiality of our personal data but even four years later, there is still a lack of understanding among companies and consumers about how to comply with the best practices. Big tech companies, like Google or Amazon, usually refer to the acronym GDPR, to explain the rules that verify the data, so it is not used inappropriately, but to add details to create confusion.