E-commerce in France grew by 11% to spending of €57 billion last year and is predicted to breakthrough the €60 billion barrier this year, according to new figures from the country’s e-commerce
association Fevad.The results were slightly higher than expected thanks to a strong peak season which showed a 13%year-on-year rise in revenues to €11.4 billion, the association’s annual market study releasedyesterday showed.
A separate survey on Christmas sales trends by researchers CSA for Fevad found that seven out ofevery 10 French shoppers bought presents online, with one in three purchasing from a foreign-basedwebsite. About 15% bought goods as part of Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales.
French consumers continued to favour home deliveries ahead of all other options in the run-up toChristmas but ‘click and collect’ options grew fast in popularity while parcel shops were lesspopular, the CSA survey found. Some 77% of French consumers selected standard home delivery, while20% opted for click and collect offers. The number of consumers selecting delivery to a parcelpoint for collection dropped to 53% from 61% in 2013, while express home delivery declined to just15% from 27%.
Overall, the e-commerce sector now represents 9% of total retail spending in France (excludingfood purchases), and the country should maintain its position as Europe’s third-largest e-commercemarket behind the UK and Germany, Fevad said in its annual survey.
Outlining some of the main trends in 2014, the association said the number of onlinetransactions went up by 15%, despite the weak economic climate in France and overall drop inconsumer spending. The average ‘basket’ per transaction declined by 4% to €81, the fourth annualfall in a row. But this was compensated by an increase in the number of transactions per onlineshopper, which rose to 20 last year from 18 in 2013.
The growth in spending also reflects expansion on the supply side, with the number of activewebsites in France increasing by 14% to 157,300, the Fevad survey showed. Market places showed goodgrowth last year. However, the leading websites increased their combined sales by only 3% lastyear, according to the iCE 40 index, which measures the top 40 e-commerce websites in France.
Mobile commerce, covering purchases made through smartphones or tablets, continued its stronggrowth with a 60% sales increase last year.
Looking ahead, Fevad predicted growth of about 10% for French e-commerce this year, which wouldtake the market to more than €60 billion. This growth would be based on new offers, more websitesand more online shoppers, it said.
According to another CSA survey for Fevad, 61% of French consumers said the difficult economicclimate would not stop them from buying online this year, and nine out of 10 said they would spendas much as last year or more in 2015.
