The e-commerce sector continues to grow year after year. In 2022 and according to a report by the Federation of E-commerce and Distance Selling (FEVAD), e-commerce in France recorded 146.9 billion euros in revenue, an increase of +13.8%. compared to 2021.
What are the biggest e-commerce sites in France? Check out our latest article.
Top 10 of the largest e-commerce sites in France
Amazon
Amazon's notoriety is well established. The American company founded by Jeff Bezos tops this ranking of the 10 largest e-commerce sites in France. The firm now has 200 million subscribers to its 24-hour delivery offer, called Amazon Prime.
Among consumers, trust in Amazon is so high that 89% (3) of buyers say they prefer to buy a product from Amazon rather than from another brand.
Amazon's revenue in 2022 was $514 billion(2) (compared to $469.8 billion in 2021).
The good corner
The second-hand goods specialist ranks 2nd, with average traffic of 27 million visitors/month in France. Despite a positive financial result and a turnover up by 6% in 2021, the company founded by Olivier Aizac recently announced the loss of 110 jobs as part of a Job Protection Plan.
Vinted
The Lithuanian company specializing in the sale of second-hand items completes the podium. Founded in 2008 by Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas, it is riding the current second-hand fashion trend.
Interest in the company is also on the side of investors with recent fundraising in significant amounts: 128 million euros in November 2019 and 250 million in May 2021. These investments should enable the company to conquer new market share in Europe. By 2025, the second-hand textile e-commerce market should be worth 34 billion dollars (3).
AliExpress
The Chinese platform AliExpress, which belongs to the Alibaba Group, comes in 4th position. Since 2009, the Alibaba Group has been best known for its business operation for singles on 11/11 every year. The company then records record sales. In 2021, this holiday generated 84 billion in revenue for Alibaba, far ahead of Amazon's 14 billion euros in revenue generated during Black Friday of the same year.
SNCF connect
The French tour operator comes in 5th position in this ranking of the 10 largest e-commerce sites in France. With a business volume of 4.3 billion euros on the French market in 2021 and more than 2.5 million daily visits to the site, the application has recorded 25 million downloads.
Booking.com
The specialist in booking short stays online is also present in this ranking. With medium traffic. According to Fevad, 13 million French people (4) - i.e. just under 1 in 5 French people - consulted the site online in 2021.
Cdiscount
The French marketplace is 8th in this ranking. The consequences of Covid-19 are being felt on the company's activity, which has recorded a sharp decline in its business volume and its turnover compared to 2021.
eBay
In 9th place in this ranking, we find another marketplace, American this time with eBay. Founded in 1995, eBay is still a must in e-commerce. In 2021, the platform is used by 185 million users worldwide, employs 13,000 people and has a turnover of 10.3 billion in 2020.
SHEIN
In recent years, the Chinese fast fashion giant has made a name for itself in this tight ranking of the largest e-commerce sites. The thousands of products on the platform are very popular with 20-year-olds in the United States and Europe.
Today, SHEIN has grown so rapidly that its market capitalization is worth more than that of Zara and H&M combined. In 2021, the company posted revenue of $15.7 billion.
Mobile, more and more preferred by consumers
As we talked about in our article on responsive design , mobile is increasingly popular with consumers for shopping online. Thus, nearly 50% (5) of online purchases are made from a mobile terminal.
Until now, the computer was mainly used in the act of purchase. We are now seeing “cross-device” use by consumers: they can start their search on their mobile and end it on their computer. And vice versa.
The smartphone is more than ever the best ally of e-merchants. Currently, it is estimated that 6.5 billion (5) people have a telephone and use it to browse the Internet.
E-commerce: a sector that is constantly progressing
E-commerce is now well established in consumer habits. Thus, 93.5% (6) of Internet users in the world have already purchased products online. According to some analysts, forecasts indicate that by 2040, 95% of all purchases will be made through e-commerce.
New trends are emerging for the future of e-commerce
Trends show that the future of e-commerce will go through the massive adoption of social shopping, namely the fact of buying a product directly from the shopping function of the brands' social account. In recent years, brands have understood the importance of social networks to build an engaged community but also to generate additional sales.
Finally, it's a safe bet that artificial intelligence tools will play an important role in the ability of brands to constantly innovate.
In 2022, e-commerce in France continues to grow with nearly 147 billion spent. While product sales fell by 7% compared to 2021, the sale of services continued to grow with an increase of 36% compared to the same period. This represents a total of 2.3 billion transactions carried out online, products and services combined.
The ranking of the 10 largest e-commerce sites mainly includes marketplaces and pure players. To stay in this ranking, these companies will have to redouble their innovation to maintain customer satisfaction and keep abreast of new trends.
Sources of the article:
(1) The 2019 Amazon Consumer Behavior Report , Feedvisor Study, 2019
(2) The turnover of tech companies , Moderator's Blog, 2022
(3) Second-hand textile e-commerce should double in size by 2025 , Les Echos, 2021
(4) 13 million French people consult Booking at least once a month , Elloha, 2022
(5) Fevad study, Ecranmobile , 2022.
(6) E-commerce: statistics and key figures , Sales Hacking, 2023
