The majority of French online shoppers plan to use the internet for their purchases during thewinter sales that started today and will last for the next six weeks, the national e-commerce
association Fevad reported in its latest study.The survey results have revealed that 69% of French e-buyers intend to research or make theirwinter sales purchases online, which corresponds to nearly 25 million people. The overallpercentage of those e-shoppers who will make their purchases online is estimated to exceed 60%. Ingender terms, women are more likely than men to shop online for bargains during the six-week period(65% vs 57%).
Like last year, the vast majority (75%) of French online shoppers prefer to make their wintersales purchases via a computer (vs. 69% in 2014). However, the use of new technologies hasconsiderably increased, with 34% of e-buyers saying they will research or make their purchasesonline via a tablet, which equals a year-on-year increase of 8%. Among people aged 35-49, thisproportion is even higher with 41%. 30% of online shoppers plan to use their smartphone for thispurpose, which is a 2% increase in one year. In the age group 18-24, the figure is even higher with51%, according to the Fevad study.
The survey further revealed that 66% of French e-shoppers prefer the internet to make theirwinter sales purchases to avoid crowded stores while 58% highlighted the possibility of lowerprices and 51% pointed out the wider choice on the internet compared to a traditional shop. Thesetwo latter points are especially important for younger people aged 18-24 with 72% and 67%respectively.
As for the budget to be spent online on the winter sales, 63% of the respondents indicated itwould be the same as last year. Only 7% consider spending more than in 2014 while 29% plan toreduce their respective budget. This decline is even more pronounced with women (36%). The averagebudget is expected to fall below the €200 mark this time to €188, compared to €212 in 2014. Thismeans that the French e-shoppers are likely to spend on average over €20 less on their winter salespurchases online than last year.
Similarly to last year, the best-selling product group during the winter sales remains clothes,accessories and shoes with 84% of the respondents saying they would look for bargains in thiscategory. Among women planning to make their purchases online during the current winter sales, 91%plan to shop especially for clothes on the internet, ahead of IT products, hi-fi and phoneequipment. As for furniture and decoration, the number of e-shoppers willing to buy these productsduring the winter sales fell to 10% this year, compared to 17% last year.
