Commission seeks views to make retail and wholesale sectors more resilient, digital and green

Today, the Commission is inviting interested parties to express their views on how the retail industrial ecosystem can accomplish a digital, green and skills transformation, increase its resilience and competitiveness, while doing so in a just and fair way.

As a basis for this consultation, the Commission published a document analysing the main challenges and opportunities of this transition.

Companies and business associations across the ecosystem as well as public authorities, social partners, consumers, research organisations, academia and other relevant parties can respond to the EU Survey questionnaire until 26 September 2023.

In addition to the consultation, the Commission is organising stakeholder workshops to deepen the understanding of the ecosystem. The outcome of the survey and workshops will feed into the co-creation of a transition pathway with concrete actions and commitments to drive the greening and digitalisation of the retail ecosystem, to be finalised in early 2024.

With 30 million people employed in 5.5 million companies and almost €1.5 trillion value added, the retail ecosystem, comprising retail and wholesale, is the largest of all EU industrial ecosystems. Due to its interlinkages with most of the industrial ecosystems, its competitiveness can have a positive spill-over effect on the whole EU economy, serving 450 million EU consumers.

The Commission proposed to develop transition pathways in different ecosystems in the May 2021 Industrial Strategy update, as part of the efforts to accelerate the green and digital transformation of European industry. The update was accompanied by the first Annual Single Market Report, which offers an analysis of the challenges faced by different ecosystems and serves as a starting point for preparation of the transition pathways.

More information

Retail transition pathway – Co-creation process