“Understanding the COVID-19 Impact on E-Commerce”

Starting from China, the COVID-19 outbreak has taken Europe by storm, forcing national governments to implement drastic measures and citizens to practice social distancing to minimize transmission. Although these preventive measures stand to positively impact e-commerce by discouraging public life, the COVID-19 outbreak highlighted how European e-commerce still suffers because of an uneven playing field. Issues such as the disruption of value chains due to COVID-19 impair the operation of e-commerce businesses and the lack of harmonization at a legislative national level limits the potential of the European Internal Single Market. To minimize the economic impact of COVID-19, whenever possible and compliant to national measures, e-commerce should be promoted as a way to prepare for the recovery of the European economy.