French B2C e-commerce market seeing LaRedoute and Amazon dominate

Despite slowing growth rates, sales within the French B2C e-commerce market are projected to increase to reach almost US$50 billion by 2016.

France should experience steady growth in 2012, rising 12.3% to $33.33 billion in total B2C ecommerce sales, including travel, for the year. That ranks the country third among the EU-5, trailing the UK and Germany.

High sales are a result of several factors, chief among them an increased number of internet users purchasing online. The French B2C e-commerce market expects 75.2% of internet users in the country to buy online in 2012, up from 71.2% in 2011.

There's no doubt that France has seen slower e-commerce growth than the UK. For one thing, there is a strong tradition of buyers wanting to examine potential purchases before they commit. But such obstacles are now largely overcome -- especially as consumers in France are suffering many of the same financial pressures as those in the UK and other parts of the eurozone. Finding goods and services online for less is very welcome.

LaRedoute.fr was the leader amongst B2C e-commerce websites in France, by unique visitors in May 2012, followed by Cdiscount.com and Amazon. However, over Q1 2012 Amazon is the most popular B2C ecommerce website among internet users in the country, recording 12.6 million unique visitors per month. PriceMinister, which was acquired by Japanese site Rakuten in 2010, tied eBay for the title of second-most-popular site at 9 million visitors.

The number of dedicated customers visiting sites is important. As users in France become more price sensitive and tighten their budgets, it is expected that more consumers will take up spending online. As such, the average online buyer in the country is expected to spend $1,258 online in 2012, a figure that is set to increase to $1,542 by 2016.

For more information on the French B2C e-commerce market, see the latest research: French B2C E-Commerce Market

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