Online sales in France grew by 14.2% in the first quarter of this year to €20 billion thanks to strong growth in the number of online transactions and the growing number of French e-shoppers, according to new figures from the country’s e-commerce association Fevad.
The number of online transactions went up by 20.5% to reach a total of 290 million transactions in Q1 2017, according to the Fevad figures. This figure has increased almost fourfold since Q1 2010. Over the past two years, the quarterly growth in the number of online transactions (products and services) has thus averaged 23%.
The increasing number of French consumers shopping over the internet continues to boost the e-commerce sales in France, with more than 36 million consumers now ordering products online, which is 1 million more than a year ago, according to market researchers Mediametrie.
Another driving force in French online trade is the purchasing frequency which increased very significantly by 13% in the first three months of this year. One online shopper now makes on average over nine transactions per quarter, compared to only seven two years ago. In total, nearly €650 was spent per shopper on average in the first quarter of 2017.
This trend is accompanied by a further decline in the average “basket” per transaction, which remains below the €70 mark, down 5% to €69 in Q1 2017, compared to €73 in Q1 2016. The online shopping basket value is getting closer to the amount spent in stores, which shows that online shopping has become increasingly normal compared to traditional retail.
The increase in online purchases is also boosted by the expansion of online offers thanks to the arrival of new websites. The number of active websites in France thus continued to grow by 11% to 206,800 compared to a year ago, which means nearly 20,000 new websites in one year.
According to the iCE 100 index, which measures the top 100 e-commerce websites in France, the leading B2C websites increased their combined sales by 7% during the first quarter of 2017, despite a 2.7% decline in consumption of French households in the first three months of the year (Industrial products excluding automotive in France, according to Banque de France).
Sales to professionals (B2B) within the iCE 100 index continued to grow at a faster pace with 14% increase during the first quarter of 2017 (+9% in Q1 2016), in line with the resumption of investments by companies (+1.3%) observed during the first quarter.
Marketplaces continue to play an important role for the activity of certain panel websites, of which the sales are not calculated in the iCE 100. The index measuring sales volumes of the marketplaces (iPM) showed an increase of 19% during the first quarter of 2017. The transactions on the marketplaces currently represent 28% of the sales generated by the hosting websites, a 2% increase in one year.
Mobile commerce also remains a dynamic growth factor in France. The iCM panel (mobile commerce index), which measures sales from mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, mobile websites and apps), soared by 31% in Q1 2017 compared to Q1 2016. Currently, 27% of the total revenues made from the websites on the iCM panel are generated via smartphones and tablets which corresponds to a 5% increase in one year. The sales via mobile devices are now nearly ten times as high as five years ago.
