Ecommerce in France will reach 104 billion euros in 2019

The turnover of business-to-consumer ecommerce in France is expected to reach 104.2 billion euros at the end of 2019. This would mean an increase of 12.5 percent compared to the situation last year, when ecommerce in France was worth 92.6 billion euros.

This is one of many findings from the Ecommerce Foundation, which has shared a free edition of its ecommerce report about France in 2019 on EcommerceWiki. This year, it will probably be the first time since 2014 that the growth rate of French ecommerce will be below 13 percent.

75% of online population will shop online

The share of internet users in France having shopped online is expected to stay the same as last year, and comparable with previous years: the expectations are that 75 percent of the population will have shopped online at the end of this year. The annual amount spent per online shopper will increase though, from 2,126 euros last year to a predicted 2,346 euros this year.

According to the study by Ecommerce Foundation, Amazon is the leading online retailer in electronics and media. The ecommerce giant accounts for almost 1.2 billion euros in sales in just this sector. That’s significantly more than other big electronics and media retailers in France, such as Apple, Cdiscount, Fnac and Auchan.

Amazon is also the leading online store in France, with 2.19 billion euros in revenue last year. This is the top 10 of biggest online retailers in France in 2018:

Preferred delivery methods in France

When French online shoppers got the question how they prefer to have their ordered products delivered, 86 percent choose for delivery at home, while 83 percent like to have the items delivered in relay points. Almost four in ten (38 percent) like to collect products at the store, while 24 percent went for picking up the item and paying for it at the store. Also, 13 percent prefer to have items delivered at work, while 9 percent like to send the parcel to a locker station.

Popular payment methods in France

Most French shoppers prefer to pay for an online order by using their bank card. This was the most preferred payment method for 80 percent of shoppers. Online banking (11 percent), consumer credit (4 percent) and bank transfer (1 percent) where the other popular online payment methods.

Most foreign visitors to French online shops are from the United Kingdom (18 percent), followed by Germany (16 percent), Spain (5 percent) and Italy (4 percent). Meanwhile, French consumers like to shop domestically. Last year, 60 percent of them shopped at French shops, while 36 percent shopped both domestically and cross-border and 4 percent only shopped abroad.