Overall takings from France’s burgeoning e-commerce sector will grow 10% year on year in 2015, according to research from FEVAD (French Ecommerce Federation).

The group has backed moderate growth for online retailers as more and more of their local consumers choose to shop over the web.

Although this marks a slight decrease on the 11% rise between 2013 and 2014, causing e-commerce revenue to hit €56.8 billion last year, the association took positives from predictions of €62.4 billion by the end of December.

Steady progression

France’s flailing economy has been subject to much press coverage in recent years following reports of rising unemployment and national debt. Where business from the Eurozone is concerned, many analysts have pointed to the likes of Greece, Italy and France as markets which have consistently failed to pull their weight.

But FEVAD’s announcement shows that while France’s e-commerce sector may not be growing at the pace of its EU neighbours in Poland and Germany, it is still expanding in the face of adverse conditions.

In announcing its forecasts for 2015, FEVAD said that 2014 saw the average number of transactions per buyer increase, from 18 to 20 for the year, while the population of e-commerce sites rose 14% from the 157,300 recorded in 2013.

On a logistical level, FEVAD saw evidence of multi-channel taking off as home delivery only accounted for 46% of items bought online – down from 58% in 2013. The growing preference for in-store offerings is also creating opportunities for an upsell, according to FEVAD general manager Marc Lolivier, with 60% of customers buying additional items when they pick up their goods.

A rising contribution

A report released last week echoed FEVAD’s review of the online market in France, backing the country’s internet sales to grow 17.4% between 2014 and 2016. 

Germany remains the fastest-growing market thanks to a predicted 23.1% rise in sales between 2014 and 2015. Yet France, despite its economic woes, will be in the top three European markets in terms of online revenue – just behind the UK and Germany.  

FEVAD president Francois Momboisse summed up his own group’s findings by saying he ‘didn’t get why’ analysts were focusing on lower growth when considering the successes of last year.