How EU-ready is the average webshop?

What the pilot showed

Important: 16% and 12% are lower bounds, not evidence that the remainder is fully compliant.

How we studied the shops

We examined 100 publicly accessible webshops in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France: 50 large/established retailers and 50 smaller/local independent shops. Only public information was used. A missing search result never automatically counted as a failure; uncertainty remained unresolved.

How we validated findings

Negative findings were rechecked and, where possible, based on public statements from the retailer itself or full product pages. Not measurable did not mean wrong. Exceptions and sector-specific rules were not forced into a failure score.

Verifiable public examples

What does this mean for a webshop owner?

A webshop can look professional and still carry product-level, accessibility or information-consistency risks. Possible consequences include remediation costs, consumer complaints, product-safety or traceability issues, regulatory action and problems with advertising or sales platforms when their requirements are not met.