French online sales soar
Online sales in France have increased by 26% in 2009, according to a new report. The study was published by Fevad (French National E-commerce Federation) and the Office of the French Secretary of State for Commerce, Artisanal industry, Small and Medium-sized Businesses, Tourism, Services and Consumption.
The report is based both on information gathered from 37 leading websites which are part of the Fevad/iCE 30 panel and on total aggregate transactions handled by the main payment services providers on behalf of more than 64,000 websites. The continued relevance of the methodology and the processing of data have been validated by the firm KPMG.
Over the last 12 months, the sites on the Fevad/iCE 30 panel (see list below) have seen their turnover increase by 8%. The websites of the panel members alone have recorded 8.9bn Euros in turnover, representing more than a third (36%) of total internet sales in 2009.
Growth over one year (on a like-for-like basis) has therefore remained steady for the leading sites, especially due to strong fourth quarter results. The acceleration in growth in the last quarter benefited all sectors represented on the panel.
This is especially true of technical products which have increased 8% and textile/fashion products whose sales have grown by 13%, in a market in recession (down 3.4% January-December 2009, source: IFM). Both have managed to retain their 2008 levels of growth through 2009, partly as a result of the success of second-hand sales leading up to Christmas and the New Year period.
The e-tourism sector is recording an annual increase of 7%, in the context of a declining travel market (down 7% November 2008-October 2009, source: CETO). Following slower growth in the first half of the year (up 5%), the sector saw a rise of 12% in the fourth quarter.
Finally, after a difficult start to the year, B2B sites returned to growth in the last quarter (up 5%).
For the purposes of the study, Fevad also surveyed the main payment service providers (see list) regarding transactions carried out at more than 60,000 sites. In total, the increase in turnover across all sites studied (including sites represented on the Fevad/iCE 30 panel) was 26% in a year, in an overall context of reduced spending (down 1.4% for retail in 2009, source: Banque de France).
Overall turnover from internet sales therefore reached 25bn Euros in 2009, in line with Fevad forecasts. Between 2000 and 2009, e-commerce will have seen its turnover multiply 35-fold. According to Fevad, it is due to exceed 30bn Euros in 2010.
In 2009, the number of bank card transactions handled by payment platforms increased by 31% (compared with 33% in 2008).
The average spend in 2009 was 90 Euros, down 2% compared with 2008. It should be remembered that after a net decrease in the first half-year (down 4%), average spend recovered in the third quarter (down 1%) before returning to positive growth in the final quarter (up 2%).
This reversal in the trend was confirmed during the Sales period, with the average spend increasing by 2% in the first week of New Year Sales.
In total, the number of transactions carried out via e-commerce sites in 2009 is estimated at 277.8m.
According to the latest results from Médiamétrie’s Internet Usage Observatory, published in conjunction with the e-commerce assessment, the number of cyberconsumers in the fourth quarter of 2009 continued to rise, with 9% growth in a year. There are a total of 24.4m online shoppers, representing an increase of 2.1m new cyberconsumers in a year.
The profile of a cyberconsumer now resembles that of a web-user and a 13% increase in the number of cyberconsumers aged 50 to 64 is of particular interest.
Over the past 12 months, the number of cybermerchants has achieved a new record with 64,100 active merchant sites listed, representing an increase of 35% compared with 2008. A total of around 17,000 new active merchant sites were created in 2009 (compared with 11,800 in 2008). Almost two merchant sites are created every hour in France.
At the same time, the typology of merchant sites is changing in relation to volume of monthly transactions, with the average number of transactions per site continuing to increase. For instance, the number of sites recording less than 10 transactions per month has fallen again (29.9% in 2009 compared with 55% in 2005) while the number of sites achieving 100 to 1000 transactions per month is increasing (14% in 2005 compared with 21.1% in 2009). Finally, 500 sites handle more than 10,000 orders per month and around 50 handle more than 100,000.
