According to a Eurobarometer survey, 42% of EU-based SMEs – sellers, game companies or for instance online travel agents – use online platforms to sell their products and services. As many as 82% of these firms use search engines on these platforms to promote their products and services.
Online platforms are a huge force driving the e-economy, through which SMEs have unlimited access to millions of prospective customers. They are becoming increasingly important as vital go-betweens in online transacting of business. The operators of these online platforms are well aware of this and frequently exploit this reliance in platform-to-business relationships with firms offering their products and services to end customers.
