What Fevad's key e-commerce figures tell us about PIMs

The federation of distance selling companies (Fevad) has published an instructive summary of e-commerce figures for 2015. In addition to the continued growth in e-commerce turnover, which is no surprise, it contains instructive statistics that are useful for developing an e-commerce strategy.

Significant room for improvement in mobile shopping

In 2015, more than 34.7 million French people made online purchases, i.e. 79% of Internet users, for a turnover of 62 billion euros (2015 estimate). The computer, whether desktop or laptop, remains the main means of purchasing online, although mobile terminals are making a significant breakthrough. Purchases on tablets are made by 23.5% of Internet users and more than one in 10 has made a purchase with their mobile (10.7%). If m-commerce is growing from 4 in 2013 to 6.4 billion, we can wonder about its relative weakness. More than half of the French population is equipped with smartphones and these now account for more than 84% of mobile sales (see this barometer). If few transactions are carried out via a mobile, it is undoubtedly because too few sites are optimised for m-commerce, i.e. designed in responsive design or coupled with a dedicated application. However, buying on a mobile phone is largely a matter of ergonomics and accessibility of product information. Moreover, the leading sites (Amazon, Cdiscount, FNAC, etc.) account for 21% of transactions carried out via mobile, which is undoubtedly because mobile purchasing is well understood.

Multilingualism, a real opportunity

Compared to our European neighbours, French e-commerce has significant room for improvement. French e-commerce turnover was less than half that generated by the UK in 2015, at €143.9 billion compared with €62.4 billion in France. Overall, France is lagging behind and the explanations are less to do with infrastructure - for example, we have the triple play broadband among the cheapest in Europe - than in digital practices. In terms of companies that buy and sell online, for example, the Fevad barometer shows that France is in 10th place with barely a quarter of e-buyers and only 15% of e-sellers, well behind Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This situation is to be deplored but also seen as an opportunity. With a bilingual French-English site - which is the minimum - an SME can address not only our neighbours across the Channel but also all the Nordic countries that use English on a daily basis.

Multi-channel and multilingual communication opens the way to real business opportunities for French SMEs marketing goods and services in BtoB or BtoC. This strategy requires the implementation of a PIM (Product information manager) which will allow to unify and make reliable the product information, by making it accessible on all supports and in several languages.

Key figures 2015 Fevad