Ecommerce in France was worth €72 billion in 2016

Ecommerce in France has reached the 70 billion mark. French consumers spent about 72 billion euros online in 2016, which is an increase of 14.6 percent compared to the situation in 2015. Over one billion online purchases were made in France, that’s 33 transactions per second.

This is shown by data from the French ecommerce association Fevad, which gathered data from online retailers and payment service providers. The new numbers show that the online retail industry in France has continued its development last year. This good performance can be explained by a very positive result of the end-of-year sales. During the holiday season, online sales in France increased by 15 percent compared to the same period one year before. The months of November and December represented 20 percent of the turnover of 2016.

Lower average order value, higher purchase frequency

The average order value decreased from 75 euros in 2015 to 70 euros last year, but this doesn’t necessarily mean bad news. A lower average order value could be a result of the expansion of supply, the development of the competition or new logistic approaches, such as an unlimited delivery subscription, free delivery and returns. The decrease is offset by a record increase in the frequency of purchases, which grew 21 percent compared to 2015. Online consumers in France realized on average 28 online transactions over the year with a total amount of 2,000 euros.

According to Fevad, there are now about 200,000 active online stores in France, which is an increase of 12 percent compared to 2015.