PRESS RELEASE September 23, 2015
The Luxembourg E-commerce Association, Fédération luxembourgeoise du e-commerce, has joined Ecommerce Europe as its 18th national association member. Ecommerce Europe is the European umbrella organization for e-commerce representing over 25,000 companies selling products and/or services online to consumers.
“Luxembourg is in the middle of Europe and is the country which faces the most cross-border problems. For this reason, it sounds logical to join Ecommerce Europe,” declares Pierre Friob, President of the Luxembourg E-commerce Association (eCOM.lu). “We are very glad with the accession of eCOM.lu to Ecommerce Europe. We believe that the cross-border experiences of the Luxembourg e-commerce sector can be of great added value to the knowledge of Ecommerce Europe”, says François Momboisse, President of Ecommerce Europe.
Luxembourg, an interesting country for headquarters
Luxembourg is an emerging B2C e-commerce market of goods and services. The Luxembourg B2C e-commerce turnover reached €531mn in 2014 and is estimated to grow to €600mn (+13%) in 2015. In Luxembourg, 95% of the people have access to the Internet, leading to 0.5mn online shoppers. On average, Luxembourgers spent €2,440 online in 2014.
In addition, Luxembourg has one of the biggest cross-border sales markets of Europe. Since the small Member State has a limited domestic online offer, 65% of the inhabitants buy their products and services in other countries. As a result, Luxembourg has the highest rate of cross-border purchases, followed by Austria (40%).
Until the end of 2014 sellers of electronic services, such as software, online courses and apps had to pay the related VAT to the tax authorities of their own country. The Luxembourg VAT regulations were much more favorable than those of most other countries of the European Union. Luxembourg is consequently the host of many large e-commerce companies, including iTunes, Rakuten, Amazon – with a team of more than 1,000 employees – and Skype, which was founded with Luxembourgish funds.
Spreading modern, economical and reliable forms of e-commerce
The Fédération luxembourgeoise du e-commerce was founded in March 2015. “We will first focus on establishing working groups (regulations, logistics, and payments), conferences and setting up links with the European national e-commerce federations. We plan to start a survey in collaboration with the national statistics organization in order to have official figures about e-commerce in Luxembourg soon”, says Pierre Friob.
The association aims to bring together companies whose main or complementary activity is to sell online products and services on the Luxembourg market. eCOM.lu represents the interests of these companies both internationally and nationally. “We want to promote an economic and political environment conducive to selling online, and, in particular, to work in compliance with the European and Luxembourg law, for the removal of any regulatory barriers that hamper competitiveness and development of online sales in Luxembourg,” declares Pierre Friob. “Our goal is also to strengthen consumer confidence in e-commerce and to enhance the image of online sales. We want to do this by improving rules and regulation, the development of skills, and promotional and informational action for online merchants and consumers.”
About Ecommerce Europe
Ecommerce Europe is the association representing 25,000+ companies selling goods and/or services online to consumers in Europe. Founded by leading national e-commerce associations, Ecommerce Europe is the voice of the e-commerce sector in Europe. Its mission is to stimulate cross-border e-commerce through lobbying for better or desired policy, by offering a European platform bringing the European e-commerce sector and other stakeholders together, and by providing in-depth research data about European markets.
Website: www.ecommerce-europe.eu.