Goods Flow Chains Transformation in The European Commercial Sector

Abstract

In this work, an assessment and analysis of the goods flow chain ratio is used to estimate structural change in the trade sector of the EU-27. For the purposes of the quantitative research, official Eurostat secondary data statistics of for the period 2005-2020 are used. The general trend formed throughout the EU to reduce intermediaries is not reproduced in the same way across countries and is sometimes characterized by unpredictable variation. This leads to the conclusion that middlemen are important for the distribution of products in the open market system. Therefore, the downsizing in goods flow chain intermediaries can be linked to the processes of digitization, globalization, the search for sustainable and socially and environmentally responsible business development.