(5) For the purposes of the e-commerce sector inquiry, requests for information (‘questionnaires’) were addressed to stakeholders between June 2015 and March 2016. 1 051 retailers (‘retailers’); 37 marketplaces; 89 price comparison tool providers; 17 payment system providers; 259 manufacturers; 248 digital content providers; 9 companies offering virtual private networks 4 and IP routing services; and 30 large groups and hosting operators, 5 from 28 Member States, provided responses to the questionnaires. Respondents submitted in total 2 605 agreements related to the distribution of consumer goods and 6 426 licensing agreements related to the distribution of digital content.

(6) On 15 September 2016, the Commission published a Preliminary Report 6 on the initial findings of the e-commerce sector inquiry. The publication of the Preliminary Report was followed by a public consultation open to all interested stakeholders. The public consultation ended on 18 November 2016. Altogether 66 submissions were made in relation to consumer goods and digital content. 7

(7) Interested stakeholders also expressed their views at a stakeholder conference in Brussels on 6 October 2016. The event provided representatives of different stakeholders with an opportunity to put forward their views on the Preliminary Report.

(8) This Report is accompanied by a Staff Working Document, the Final Report on the e-commerce sector inquiry (‘the Final Report’) which summarises the main findings of the e-commerce sector inquiry and incorporates comments submitted by stakeholders during the public consultation. The Final Report is divided into two separate sections: the first section covers e-commerce of consumer goods, while the second focuses on e-commerce of digital content.