European ecommerce is being held back by lack of consumer trust and a dearth of shopping sites in different languages.

The ‘Ecommerce Enters Europe’ study found that only 18 percent of European homes have Internet access and less than 10 percent had bought goods or services online. Two thirds of Europeans said they preferred to see and touch goods in stores before buying and many expressed privacy and security concerns. Ecommerce was most popular in Sweden where 7 percent of households had ordered goods. At the other end of the scale, only 7 percent of French households were connected to the Internet and only 2 percent had bought online. French reluctance to join the Internet revolution is largely attributed to the deep penetration of the Minitel service, which has enabled every French household to find information and shop from a little terminal in their home since 1983. Minitel turnover is FRF5.46 billion (USD834.9 million) per year. Forrester surveyed 17,000 households in Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands in July and August 1999.