French e-tail business booms
Online sales in France rose nearly 30 per cent in 2008, reaching €20.1 billion (£18.5bn; $26 billion), the Fédération du E-commerce et de la Vente à Distance (FEVAD) reports.
Online sales in France rose nearly 30% in 2008, reaching €20.1bn ($26bn), the Fédération du E-commerce et de la Vente à Distance (FEVAD) reports.
The digital industry Website Le Journal du Net (JDN) recently surveyed e-commerce firms for their financial forecasts – 73% reported that their companies had been profitable in 2008, and most saw continued growth for 2009.
They spoke of sharp discounting giving a lower average order value, but expected higher total volumes to compensate. More than two-thirds were confident the year ahead would be profitable and just 14% said they expected to see negative growth over the next 12 months.
Sixty-two per cent of JDN’s respondents said they would spend more on marketing and communication in 2009 than they had in 2008. Other priority spend areas were search engine optimisation and customer relationship management and loyalty programs.
The number of French consumers buying online rose by 2.5m in 2008, to just over 22m, FEVAD reports.
