E-commerce in France: from 2019 statistics to 2020 trends

E-commerce, born well before 2000, is becoming  more and more popular every year and now covers all aspects of our lives. Nowadays, most traders and future entrepreneurs plan to start or expand their business to e-commerce.

Knowing that almost half of the world’s population using the Internet should buy online in 2019, what about online sales in France? Where is France placed in the figures and what are the trends for e-commerce in 2020?

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The figures of e-commerce in France in 2019

According to the Observatoire des Usages Internet of Médiamétrie (Internet Usage Observatory), 87.5% of French Internet users have made online purchases in the first quarter of 2019. A figure that seems to correspond to the statistics compiled for 2019: it will reach the historic mark of 100 billion euros! 

This first quarter started well, with an 11.9% increase in e-commerce sales revenue compared to Q1 2018, according to the FEVAD (the French Federation of e-commerce and distance selling) report. It is therefore a total of 407 million transactions on e-commerce sites for French buyers (+ 19% over one year), which represents 24.9 billion euros. This increase can be explained in part by a significant increase in online shoppers.

We note that the mobile channel continues a significant development: it represents 22% of the turnover achieved directly by e-commerce sites and 35% for leading sites. According to Marc Lolivier, managing director of FEVAD, “On average, 42.9 million Internet users (68.3% of French people) have consulted each month at least one of the sites and / or applications of the top 15 e-commerce . This growth is accompanied by a surge in mobile visits, which some sites account for up to 75% of traffic.” 

The colorful graph above shows you the spectacular impact of the smartphone in the top 5 most visited sites and applications by computers and smartphones. Impossible to miss the difference for Veepee, which accounts for 65.9% of buyers via smartphones against 30.6% via computers. This traffic channel is a real way to capture the attention of consumers .

How to explain this rise in numbers?

It must be remembered that the increase in figures and the diversification of tools and solutions offered to consumers go together. Smartphones and tablets play a very important role in the growth of e-commerce. Their increasing use enters the 2019 trend process and explains the continual rise in numbers.

You cannot miss out on shopping from social networks with Instagram and its stories, Facebook and its Marketplace, etc. Their use has been facilitated, the confidence in their platforms increased and the trends of e-commerce put forward.

With a strong emphasis on ethics, bio and eco-responsibility, it is clearly visible that e-businesses with a responsible CSR policy have charmed users of social networks by highlighting these aspects, not to mention a visual line refined and easy to understand. Consequences: trusted users and easily guided to the cart. 

The previous chart shows that leading e-commerce companies like Amazon, Cdiscount or Booking.com, which are among the top 15 most visited e-commerce sites, continue to represent an opportunity to sell products or services beyond borders.

FEVAD, in its report about e-commerce in 2019 announces: “In France, the proportion of e-buyers cross-border exceeds that of the United Kingdom and Germany. More than half of the merchant sites (66%), small or large merchants sell internationally. ” 

E-commerce trends in France by 2020

The Xerfi study “E-commerce in France by 2020” has forecast a 60% increase in online sales between 2014 and 2020. According to the figures mentioned in the previous sections, France agrees to respect this forecast. While in 2018, it passed the milestone of 90 billion turnovers, it is expected that it passes the 100 billion mark of turnover by the end of 2019. A great way to start the year 2020! 

But 2019 is already well underway, so it is a good idea to project e-commerce trends in France for the coming year. We give you 5 trends not to miss for e-commerce in 2020, from augmented reality to ROPO, not to mention the future of logistics with ShippyPro. 

1. Augmented reality technology: Sephora, Ikea, Amazon and Lenskart (an Indian e-commerce platform specializing in eyeglass marketing) are key examples. Far from falling behind in terms of e-commerce trends, they allow their consumers to choose items through augmented reality. Buyers can then choose items before buying, to ensure an innovative (for now) and concrete customer experience. 

2. Voice Search: Dominos, Lyft and Walmart are the pioneers of voice research. While Google ensures that its users can achieve good results through voice search from their Google search engine, these three companies have already got into the habit of offering  their customers quality voice services. A trend not to be overlooked when you know (according to ComsCore) that by 2020, more than 50% of searches will be voice searches.

3. Dematerialization and Automation of Logistics Processes: Impossible to talk about 2020 e-commerce trends without mentioning ShippyPro. If buyers are more numerous, it is clear that orders are growing and volumes are becoming larger. That’s where digital platforms like ShippyPro come in, allowing e-commerce companies to manage and automate all shipping processes in just a few clicks! 

From importing order information to returns management, ShippyPro automates and integrates with marketplaces and e-commerce CMS like Magento, Prestashop, Shopify or WooCommerce. Real trends in terms of logistics, dematerialization and automation of logistics processes are the must-haves of 2020.

4. Visual Marketing: 40% of users respond better to a beautiful picture than to a simple text. Visual Marketing (or Image Marketing) is about working on your brand image and selling your products through a simple image. This is a real opportunity for brands, social networks are their allies in this quest for optimal Visual Marketing. 

5. Research Online Purchase Offline(ROPO): This is a customer behavior: they conducts online research to finalize their purchases in a physical store. According to Ipsos, 53% of French consumers check on the web before going to the store. This is new data to take into account to better understand and evaluate the effectiveness of digital campaigns. 

In conclusion, it is undeniable that online sales are not about to stop. While B2C online sales (aimed at individuals), are democratized, B2B e-commerce (aimed at businesses) has not yet said its last word and it will continue to grow over the next few years. 

Be that as it may, B2B or B2C, advances and numbers do not lie: the world of e-commerce is changing. However, B2B or B2C, progress and numbers don’t lie: the world of e-commerce is changing. You need to know current and future trends and consider each step forward an opportunity to expand your business!