Ecommerce in France in 2015: figures from FEVAD

During the E-commerce Paris exhibition last week, the French national ecommerce association, FEVAD, shared the figures regarding ecommerce in France in the second quarter of 2015 in comparison to the same period in 2014. Find below the latest trends in French ecommerce.

Ecommerce in top shape in France

In the second quarter of 2015, French e-shoppers have spent 15.5 billion euros, an increase of 16%. Considered the best performance since 3 years, this acceleration has been driven by the 194 million transactions made by emerchants, as opposed to 162 million in 2014, and also by the online purchase frequency, which has risen to an average of 7.3. The average shopping basket has stabilised at €79 since the first quarter of 2015.

The ecommerce is continuing to grow […] During the whole first semester of 2015, the global ecommerce turnover has exceeded 30 billion euros,” said Marc Lolivier, General Manager of FEVAD.

Today, there are 167,650 official active emerchants in France (+14% in one year). The number of online shops should even exceed 180,000 sites by the end of 2015. The number of e-shoppers in France is also growing. They are currently 34.7 million, that is 628,000 more than in 2014.

The number of online shoppers marks a regular and continuing progression which in combination with the increase in buying frequency and the development of product offerings has allowed ecommerce to remain in top form since the start of the year,” points out Marc Lolivier, General Manager of FEVAD.

Online marketplaces keep gaining importance

Online marketplaces continue their expansion in the second quarter of 2015 and occupy a role of ever increasing importance in ecommerce both in France and abroad. The volume of sales taking place via online marketplaces has risen 58% from 2014. Marketplaces represent today 27% of the turnover of major French ecommerce sites. Note that amongst the most visited ecommerce sites in France, the top 3 are online marketplaces: Amazon, Cdiscount and Fnac.

M-commerce: mobile rises by 43%

The sales made via mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) have seen a rise of 43%. They now represent 19% of turnover generated by online stores. It is therefore important for merchants to adapt their online stores for mobile in order to improve their chances of customer conversion and multiply their points of contact with clientele. According to a study led by price comparison site Idealo, 18% of merchants still haven’t made the leap into mobile.

Moving towards a multi-channel strategy

Even if the future of ecommerce continues to be bright, it remains to be said that the synergy between the online and the offline (the internet and physical stores) is growing ever more present at the heart of the buying process, blurring the lines between these two forms of consumption. The reason for this is the evolving consumer behaviour, which brings to light new, underlying trends such as ROPO or even Store2Web (also known as Showrooming). As an example, in the course of the last 6 months, 68% of consumers who came to a store had previously done research online before buying. By contrast, 41% of e-shoppers have visited a physical store in advance before carrying out their transaction online.

Delivery: A key step in the purchasing process

As a key element of the customer experience, the delivery options and quality clearly have an important place in today’s purchasing process. A means of gaining loyalty, delivery has become a leading factor in the buying decisions of ever more demanding consumers who are also seeking flexibility. The most popular delivery methods in France are home delivery (85%) and Click & Collect (76%).

Social commerce: recommendations are becoming a driving force in customer conversion

We also find that web users are turning more and more to other consumers as sources of information. This is, among other reasons, due to the development of social media, leading to new forms of ecommerce such as social commerce, which encourages interaction between e-shoppers. One in five web shoppers asks their family and friends for information in this way, more than half of all web users consult posted comments before carrying out a purchase and 45% provide their own comments.

The development of online marketplaces, m-commerce, the multi-channel approach, delivery and social commerce are trends that emerchants need to follow very closely in the coming months in order to continue to successfully respond to e-shoppers’ evolving needs.