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DOI: http://doi.org/10.31617/visnik.knute.2018(120)01

UDC 336:[004.738.5:339.17](477)

ILCHENKO Natalia,
Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Head of the Trading Business and LogisticsDepartment of Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics          
 
Olha FREIUK,
Postgraduate student atthe Trading Business and Logistics Department of Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics
 
PROTECTION OF CONSUMER’S INTERESTS IN THE ONLINE STORES OF UKRAINE
 
Background. In the context of the development of globalization processes, there is a need for new methods of sales, in particular through the Internet. The introduction of
e-commerce in Ukraine allows retailers to reduce costs associated with the sale of goods, namely: avoiding the need to store commercial premises, purchase of commercial equip­ment, etc. However, with the development of Internet trade, there are problems that require state intervention, which is most important in terms of assessing the quality of services provided and protecting consumer rights. Compliance with this task is complicated by the lack of acceptable statistical registration and control over the quantity, quality and procedure for reviewing consumer complaints. This determines the relevance of the subject matter of this article.
The aim of the article is to research compliance with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation of the necessary information available on the sites of Internet stores, as well as to develop recommendations for improving the situation in this area.          
Materials and methods. The methodological basis for the investigation of the development of  e-commerce is the methods of induction and deduction (for the research of the development of e-commerce), comparative analysis, questionnaires (for determining the problems of studying consumer information in the online stores of Ukraine).
Results. The authors conducted the research on the activities of domestic online stores for the three top-categories of goods: "Technics", "Clothes" and "Cosmetic and perfu­mery products", using the method of survey and interviewing consultants.
A check of 60 online stores revealed that the name of the business entity and the information about the legal address of the respective online stores are absent in almost two-thirds of the sites being studied. The lack of such information is a direct violation of consumers’ rights to information and awareness. Consequently, in the event of a conflict, the consumer will not have the necessary data to file a complaint. According to the results of the exploration the quality of the consultants’ work who responded to the challenge, we should note the positive changes in the culture of service: politeness, goodwill and willingness to help the consumer in choosing and buying the product.
Conclusion. According to the survey, it is determined that the most widespread violations of consumer rights in the field of e-commerce are: lack of identification of sellers; failure to provide the consumer with accessible, complete, accurate and timely information about goods, works and services, impossibility for the consumer to check the quality of the goods, the absence of inevitability of the punishment of the unscrupulous seller; lack / insufficiency of guarantees of consumer rights protection, etc.
The analysis of customer service quality in online stores allowed formulating some recommendations for improving the situation in this area. In particular, it is advisable to recommend: to improve the legislation of Ukraine in terms of monitoring compliance with the requirements of the Law "On Consumer Rights Protection" by the owners of Internet stores (for example, to introduce certification for honest business), including the develop­ment of clear penalties in case of violation of the legislation in the consumer rights protection  field; to distribute recommendations on effective actions of consumers in case of violation of their rights - through social advertising, educational measures in schools, higher educational institutions, etc. Prospects for further research are tracking the dynamics of consumer information quality on the websites of online stores.
 
Keywords: e-commerce, online store, consumer rights protection.

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