The French exception

As in all the major countries, Amazon dominates despite a clear slowdown in growth: According to Kantar, the giant would go from 22% market share in 2019 to 19% in 2020, including the food sector. It should be remembered that these are global market shares, not limited to e-Commerce where Amazon is the undisputed leader, far ahead of all other competitors. However, 2020, which has suffered the full force of the Covid crisis, including the closure of its warehouses for several months, is not necessarily a good indication of the future.

We have obtained via the FEVAD the figures of the French e-Commerce. Behind Amazon there are two French marketplaces: FNAC and Cdiscount.  The fourth, perhaps a surprise, is none other than Vinted, a Lithuanian company created in 2008. As for eBay, it is ranked only ninth. It’s not surprising, considering that the platform not only can’t find a growth relay but also refuses new sellers with drastic conditions on the number of items sold (only three on ebay.com) and the total amount ($200). In the end, out of fifteen marketplaces, nine are French. Foreign companies, by betting exclusively on Amazon, are making a mistake that is costing them market shares. Especially since technically, if you want to do multi-channel, there are many solutions that allow you to synchronize inventory and sales on local platforms.

Leboncoin.fr is not officially a marketplace but a classified ads site, the largest in France. However, it has dropped from 20 million visitors in 2019 to 16 million in 2020. For the time being, the site remains a must in areas such as cars or employment.

For online marketing there is no French exception. The two main players are, like everywhere else except China, Google and Facebook. However, it is interesting to negotiate advertising on blogs or webzines that have a lot of influence in France, such as lesnumériques or android.fr. As for TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat, they are unsurprisingly very popular with young people.

By Francis Rozange