E-COMMERCE INDEX

The B2C e-commerce index has been developed by UNCTAD to measure countries’ compliance with e-commerce. The index, measured using 4 separate indicators, covers 137 economies. The index provides a comparison between different areas of the countries. The countries included in the index constitute 96% of the world’s population and 99% of the global production.  According to the UNCTAD B2C E-Commerce Index, Luxembourg is ranked first in 2016. Iceland is ranked second and Norway third. Luxembourg has a high financial sector in terms of providing secure server service. Luxembourg is also the European headquarters of global e-commerce players such as Amazon, PayPal and Apple. The application of low added value tax has also been a reason for Luxembourg to move to the first place. Luxembourg also has a very well developed logistics network and is the second largest European country in terms of mail reliability score.

Internet penetration, credit card ownership and secure server services have moved Iceland to second place. Norway and other Scandinavian countries in Finland have similar features, such as: High internet and credit card entry. Like Luxembourg, Switzerland has a strong financial sector and logistics network. In the UK, users of the Internet are widespread. B2C index ranking depicts an advanced e-commerce market in UK. It has the highest percentage of wholesale and retail entrepreneurs in Europe and the highest online shopping rate globally is in the UK (Table 1).

Table 1. UNCTAD B2C E-Commerce Index, 2016

Source: UNCTAD