Adjustments for the German and European Markets
I think about a year has passed since the launch, and a lot has certainly happened. In traditional B2C business involving physical goods, it seems there’s still quite a bit of “tinkering” needed for the German and European markets. Even though it was once said that this market is very important.
Is there any indication of whether and when this will change?
Any specific feature you are missing for German and Europe?
Shahjahan Jewel Hi Jewel,
thanks—maybe I haven’t found all the options yet.
I’ve already posted a list about this before, and I’ve also mentioned several times over the past year that the names of the German federal states aren’t consistently in German.
The prices should not only indicate whether VAT is included, but also include a note about shipping costs with a link.
Translations would be nice, too, but if necessary, they can be done with Loco Translate.
Shahjahan Jewel Andreas Kreutzer In case it helps, I see some useful enhancements.
First of all, I would take advantage of the already existing and official FluentCart add-on “Customer Rights” (which currently focuses mainly on withdrawal rights ) and expand it with additional compliance features under a toggle-based policy system, so store owners can enable only the rules that apply to them.
Ideally, FluentCart should also distinguish between B2C and B2B, since many requirements are completely different. (The team did a great job here with all the flexible features).
But in terms of specific compliance requirements:
B2C / Consumer sales
- Legal guarantee notice: this is probably the biggest upcoming one. From 27 September 2026, the new official EU harmonised notice on the legal guarantee of conformity must be displayed prominently before the consumer is bound / at the online point of sale. The EU minimum is 2 years, but national law may provide longer periods (e.g. 3 years in Spain). It would be great if FluentCart could display the official notice automatically and support country-specific rules. Some users have already developed their own add-ons for this, though. And Fluencart is flexible enough so as any user can add it too. But some guidance for non tech savvy users will be welcome for sure.
- Commercial durability guarantee: also from 27 September, support for the new harmonised EU label where a manufacturer offers a free durability guarantee covering the entire product for more than 2 years.
- Withdrawal function: the new electronic withdrawal function required since June 2026, including partial withdrawals, immediate confirmation on a durable medium, and ensuring that the function remains available throughout the applicable legal withdrawal period. This is basically the current function of the add-on, but there are some important nuances to must be reviewed, specially when someone is willing to use this for physical products.
- Digital products/services: proper express consent when the customer requests immediate performance, acknowledgement of losing the withdrawal right where legally applicable, legal-conformity guarantee information, and the new information requirements regarding software-update periods where applicable. On B2C stores, selling on the EU, this could be covered with a checkbox. But as we have commented on past ocassions, a report of this or somekind of proof of consent will be one headache less for EU store owners. Some platforms, like freemium, incorporated this with a really nice process. Being compliant, and super clear about all this legal matters, boost conversions in the EU - for sure!
- GPSR / physical products: fields and frontend support for manufacturer details, EU Responsible Person where required, product identification, and mandatory safety/warning information for distance sales.
- Discount compliance: support for the EU “previous price” rule (normally the lowest price applied during the previous 30 days when advertising a price reduction). - probably not as important as the labelling aforementioned. But still, a requirement.
- Subscriptions: clear billing-period cost, minimum commitment, automatic renewal terms, and termination/cancellation conditions before purchase.
- Accessibility: checkout, account and other customer-facing components should be compatible with the European Accessibility Act requirements applicable to e-commerce since 2025.
For B2B
Most of the consumer rules above (withdrawal rights, consumer legal-guarantee notices, etc. ) should not apply when the transaction is genuinely B2B. This is why I will add all the previous features under a "toggle policy". Or in a super flexible way (for cases in which a store sells both B2C and B2B). This is, some checkouts should include this requirements. Others may not.
For B2B, I would focus much more on a country-based architecture for e-invoicing and tax reporting, especially now that Member States are progressively introducing their own systems and ViDA is changing EU B2B invoicing/reporting over the coming years (including VERI*FACTU in Spain and the other country-specific systems we have already discussed).
So, rather than solving each requirement independently, FluentCart could eventually turn Customer Rights add-on into a broader “EU Compliance” module/profile, with:
- B2C / B2B detection - and/or flexibility to choose depending on product or checkout form.
- country-specific rules
- individual compliance toggles
- automatic frontend notices / labels
- checkout-specific requirements
- and country-specific invoicing/reporting integrations
I think that would make FluentCart considerably easier to configure correctly across the EU, while still keeping the system flexible for stores that do not need every requirement.
That being said, many users are starting to build their own add-ons for theis custom necessities. So, I will start with the most important ones (e-invoicing requirements applicable to all merchants; and consumer rights for B2C stores: proper labelling and notices).
- Also, I would like to mention Andreas Seifert here, who recently shared an add-on covering the recent labelling requirements: