欧盟-2018年消费市场记分榜（英文）-2018.12-198页-17mb

2018 Consumer Markets Scoreboard Summary

Core Content

The 2018 Consumer Markets Scoreboard evaluates how consumers in the EU, Iceland, and Norway perceive the performance of key consumer markets. It focuses on the overall consumer satisfaction and highlights the key factors influencing their assessments, such as financial situation, trust, and market conditions. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of market performance across different regions and market clusters, as well as insights into consumer behavior and satisfaction with specific market components.

Main Points

1. Overall Consumer Assessment of Markets

• Consumers' assessment of market performance in 2017 continued the positive trend since 2010 and showed a modest improvement over 2015.
• The average improvement for all markets surveyed was 0.3 points compared to 2015, and 3.3 points compared to 2013.
• Goods markets scored an average of 82.7, while services markets scored 78.7 on the Market Performance Indicator (MPI).
• The 'banking services' and 'utilities' clusters showed the most noticeable improvements, though they still ranked in the lower performance quartiles.
• 'Second-hand cars' remained the lowest-ranked goods market, while 'mortgages' and 'water supply' showed the highest improvements in the services sector.

2. Key Influencing Factors

• A consumer's financial situation is the most significant personal characteristic influencing their market assessment.
• Socio-demographic factors like age, gender, and education level also play a role, though to a lesser extent.
• The MPI components are roughly equally weighted in consumers' evaluations, with trust, expectations, and problems & detriment considered slightly more important (around 21%) than comparability and choice (around 19%).

3. Market-Specific Differences

• In the 'offline gambling and lottery services' market, trust is considered more important than choice and comparability.
• In the 'transport' and 'utilities' clusters, choice is given less importance, likely due to monopolistic market structures in some countries.
• Consumers in 'electricity' and 'gas' markets rated choice as more important than in 2015, indicating increased engagement in liberalized energy markets.

4. Consumer Behavior and Market Issues

• Consumers are more likely to face problems in services markets than in goods markets (9.3% vs. 7.2%).
• Switching behavior has decreased, mainly due to a lack of interest (69% of respondents were not interested in switching).
• Only a small percentage (5%) of consumers gave up switching due to difficulties.
• Complaints and problems are still prevalent, with the telecoms cluster having the highest proportion of consumers reporting problems (16.9%) and the highest complaint rate (85.3%).

5. Regional Performance

• Western EU countries perform better overall than other regions.
• Eastern EU countries have shown the most significant improvements since 2015.
• Southern EU countries still lag behind in market performance.
• Northern EU countries tend to value trust more than choice, especially in markets like 'water supply' and 'transport services'.

6. Methodology and Data

• The Scoreboard is based on the Market Monitoring Survey, which collects data from consumers who recently purchased goods or services.
• The MPI is a composite indicator measuring market performance through five components: comparability, trust, problems & detriment, expectations, and choice.
• The 2018 edition covers 52 markets, with 30 markets surveyed in both 2015 and 2017, and the remaining 22 markets surveyed in either 2015 or 2017.
• The report emphasizes the importance of implementation and enforcement of new consumer protection rules to ensure continued improvement.

Key Indicators

• Complaints: A significant indicator of market dissatisfaction, particularly in the telecoms cluster.
• Switching: Indicates consumer willingness to change providers or services, with low interest observed.
• Market Penetration: Reflects the extent to which consumers are involved in different markets.
• Prices: A critical factor in consumer satisfaction, with some markets showing better performance.
• Safety: Highlights the extent of consumer safety and protection in various markets.

Conclusion

While there has been a general improvement in consumer market performance since 2015, the results remain mixed across regions and market clusters. Continued focus on enforcement and legislative updates is necessary to ensure that the improvements are sustained. The 'New Deal for Consumers' initiative, introduced in 2018, aims to strengthen consumer rights and provide new tools for redress, with a focus on cross-border issues and compliance.