Amazon will shortly gain ownership of a nationwide delivery network in France with the full takeover of Colis Privé, the main B2C competitor to La Poste, giving it a platform for more control over the final-mile customer experience.
The US e-commerce giant, which already owns 25% of the French delivery firm, has signed a deal to take over the remaining 75% from the company’s managers, thus gaining full ownership, according to an AFP report in business newspaper Les Echos.
“The combination of the expertise of our two companies will permit us to improve even more the experience of all our customers, consumers and distributors,” Amazon France stated. The acquisition, for an unknown sum, requires approval from the French competition authority but is expected to go through in the first quarter of 2016.
Le Figaro cited an Amazon France spokesperson as saying: “This acquisition will not put our cooperation with other transport firms into question”. Moreover, Colis Privé would remain an independent delivery company. “It’s not a question of Colis Privé delivering nothing other than Amazon. The company will continue to develop its commercial portfolio.”
Effectively, the takeover of Colis Privé would thus give Amazon a platform to switch more volumes away from La Poste, reducing its dependence on the postal operator, and enable it to build up a competitive rival and to gain more influence and control over final-mile deliveries in France. It could also enable the e-commerce firm to secure lower prices from La Poste.
Amazon, the recognised e-commerce market leader in France, has an estimated 50 million parcels a year. According to CEP-Research information, Amazon uses various companies to deliver orders in France, including La Poste’s Chronopost and Coliposte Colissimo, Colis Privé, FedEx, DHL, TNT Express and UPS, as well as the Relais Colis parcel point network.
Colis Privé expects to deliver some 35 million parcels this year for diverse retailers, including Amazon. It employs 400 staff at two hubs (Paris and Lyon) and 19 regional depots and delivers through 1,700 sub-contracted workers and some 9,000 ‘parcel shop’ partners.
The French company describes itself as the main home delivery competitor to La Poste. In contrast to the UK and Germany, where there is intensive competition between various parcel carriers, La Poste dominates the French market through its Coliposte, Chronopost and DPD France businesses.
Colis Privé was originally founded by the Yves Rocher cosmetics group in 1993 under the name Distrihome to deliver the group’s products in response to extended strikes at La Poste, and was sold to Adrexo, an unaddressed mail delivery firm in 2006. In 2012, it was taken over by the company management and re-branded as Colis Privé.
