The European Commission's introduction of new regulations on online trade represents an attempt to provide systemic protection of the domestic retail market against the expansion of Asian and American platforms. From 1 July of this year, consumers will have to pay an additional fee of 3 euros on every product worth less than 150 euros that is shipped from outside the European Union. In effect, this constitutes a new form of duty on cheap imports. The regulation strikes directly at platforms such as AliExpress and Temu, but also at America's Amazon, which already controls half of all retail turnover in Germany alone. The official justification is to counter the unfair price-undercutting practices of Chinese suppliers and to relieve European logistics infrastructure, which is being paralysed by hundreds of thousands of small parcels per day.
The situation of retail trade in Europe, and especially in Germany, is dramatic. Statistics point to the elimination of as many as 40,000 jobs in the sector in recent years. Data from the German Federal Statistical Office confirms that one in twelve companies is on the brink of bankruptcy, with the retail trade dominating this troubling ranking. The decline of traditional shops on city high streets is a multidimensional process, resulting from the pricing pressure of online giants, the lack of succession in small family firms and an inability to adapt to the modern needs of consumers.
The crisis has also struck the icons of German retail — the great department stores such as Karstadt and Hertie, which for decades drew in thousands of customers and which today often remain closed despite attempts at restructuring. History shows that German bricks-and-mortar retail has been suffering heavy blows since the 1980s, beginning with the dominance of mail-order catalogues (Otto, Neckermann) and continuing with the entry of Amazon and eBay after 2000. The expansion of digital platforms led to the disappearance of specialist outlets such as bookshops and toy stores, and the process is now being carried on by the invasion of Chinese services.
The introduction of the new fee is seen by experts as an attempt to shore up EU and national budgets. There are, however, serious doubts as to whether such a measure will be enough to save traditional bricks-and-mortar trade, whose offer in many places has already become residual. Despite the fiscal benefits for member states, the mechanism may not be sufficient to reverse the deep structural changes in the architecture of European cities and in consumer habits. The destruction of the traditional retail model is becoming an almost irreversible process, and additional charges may only slow down — not halt — the dominance of capital operating in the digital sphere.
