Ecommerce France was worth €92.6 billion in 2018

Even though the “Yellow Vest” protests in the last two months of 2018 took their toll, ecommerce in France has managed to increase by 13.4 percent last year. The online retail industry of France was worth 92.6 billion euros at the end of last year.

These figures were shared by French ecommerce association Fevad today. It based its study on information from online retailers and the aggregate amount of transactions carried out by the biggest payment service providers in the country.

Protests slow down ecommerce turnover just slightly

Last year, a total of 92.6 billion euros were spent online in France. According to Fevad, the ecommerce momentum remained in 2018, with a 13.4 percent growth, although there was a decline in growth in December due to the infamous Yellow Vests protests.

In the last month of last year, ecommerce in France grew only 8 percent, while it increased by 16 percent in October and 14 percent in November. “The impact of this slowdown on the annual ecommerce turnover is estimated at about 600 million euros.”

Average order value keeps decreasing

The average order value was around 60 euros last year, which is a decline of 5 euros compared to the situation one year before. This decline is going on since 2012, and reflects the trend of consumers buying everyday products online more and more. It could also be explained by the fact the frequency of purchase has increased. Last year, more than 1.5 billion orders were registered, which corresponds to a 20.7 percent increase compared to the situation in 2017.

200,000 ecommerce websites in France

Last year, 21,800 new ecommerce websites were created. This is an increase of 12.6 percent compared to the year before. Currently, there are nearly 200,000 active merchant websites in France.

It’s predicted that ecommerce in France will exceed the 100 billion euros mark in 2019.