The Federation of e-commerce and distance selling (Fevad) has drawn up its report on the state of e-commerce in France in 2021. Unsurprisingly, the trend observed in 2020 with a sharp increase in the use of e-commerce was confirmed last year. In total, the French spent 129 billion euros in 2021, an increase of 15.1% compared to 2020.
Tourism is on the rise again
Thus, product sales on the Internet continued to grow with +7% in 2021, with e-commerce representing 14.1% of retailer sales compared to 13.4% the previous year. The Clothing-Fashion and Furniture-Decoration categories continued to grow in 2021 with respectively +6% and +18%, this is also the case for sales of FMCG with +6%.
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Sales of services also showed a nice increase of 24%, with a special mention for the Transport, Tourism, Leisure category which was +44% compared to 2021, in particular thanks to the implementation of the health pass. However, the sector remains affected by the crisis and still records a lower turnover than in 2019.
“ 15% growth, it’s a very good year 2021. Tourism is coming back, it’s very good news », declares Marc Lolivier, general secretary of the Fevad. ” Before the crisis, e-commerce accounted for 9.8% of trade, today it is almost 15%. In 2 years, we have gained almost 5 years, thanks in particular to the stores which have invested a lot in digital and which have taken the lead on their digital roadmap. “, he continues.
Smartphone sales are on the rise again in 2021. Photograph: Jonas Leupe / Unsplash
Over 41 million online shoppers
In total in 2021, online sales sites (products and services combined) carried out more than 2.1 billion transactions, an increase of 16%, with an average sum of 60 euros per purchase. According to the barometer of the e-commerce audience in France carried out by Médiamétrie in partnership with Fevad, and taken up by theDigital Factory, 41.8 million online buyers were identified in 2021, which represents 80% of Internet users aged 11 and over.
The American giant Amazon is logically the most visited e-commerce site in France in 2021, ahead of Leboncoin, Cdiscount, Fnac and Vinted. In addition, sales made on mobile have started to rise again after a drop in 2020; they thus returned to double-digit growth of +23%, partly thanks to the recovery of the tourism sector.
A phenomenon that should continue
The Fevad figures confirm the European trend observed by researchers from the Center for Market Insights at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam. In a report published in October 2021, they claimed that the e-commerce sector continued to grow on the Old Continent thanks to the digitalization accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
” It is a fact, the health crisis has pushed the French to consume more on the Internet: 38% of cybershoppers say they have ordered more on the Internet than before the start of the crisis. And they are almost unanimous in thinking that these new online shopping habits will last beyond the crisis. “says Marc Lolivier.
The rapid development of the sector, initiated by the pandemic, should therefore continue. Moreover, the number of active merchant sites increased by 11% in 2021, confirming the growing number of players in e-commerce. Looking to 2022, six trends seem to stand out for the sector, it remains to be seen whether the numbers will continue to similarly increase as a return to normal life looms ever closer.