These are the 25 most important marketplaces for selling to France!
Research for this Marketplace Country Quadrant France was a little different than usual this time. Normally, we sort the marketplaces active in a country according to relevance and often find that behind the generalists and a category leader, things quickly become rather thin on the ground.
France is a different story: The country has a very diverse, dynamic and, above all, broad marketplace landscape with many interesting players. We were spoiled for choice rather than having a lack of choice. In the end, we settled on the following marketplaces. However, there would have been good arguments for a slightly different selection.
The French market
France has a population of around 64 million. The average net household income is €28,300, and the VAT rate is 20 percent. In 2023, e-commerce sales totaled €60 billion, an increase of 1.3 percent over the previous year. Almost two-thirds of the population shop online regularly, with the most popular e-commerce categories being hobby & leisure, food, and fashion. The top 5 online stores are Amazon, Shein, Veepee, Auchun and Boulanger. The e-commerce share of online marketplaces is approximately 40 percent – exact data is not available. Amazon penetration, measured by traffic, is about 61 percent. This means that around six out of ten online users visit Amazon at least once a month.
The Changes
There have been slight changes compared to the last version:
- Farfetch has been dropped from the fashion category. It has been replaced by the promotional shopping club Veepee.
- We have removed Veepee from the generalist list. Overall, the France country quadrant now includes 25 marketplaces instead of 26.
- In the sports category, we have replaced fnac with colizey.
The generalists in the Marketplace Country Quadrant France
The usual international players Amazon, ebay, AliExpress and Temu also dominate French e-commerce. However, a strong local hero, CDiscount, also stands out. Another French specialty is the online strength of the two supermarket chains Auchan and Carrefour. Both have opened up into a marketplace where food and non-food products from many categories can be offered.
The specialists in the 6 categories
Our Marketplace Country Quadrant France shows an excerpt from the diversity of the French marketplace landscape. Many categories have more than one strong local hero:
- In Fashion, Zalando is once again the market leader, but French players LaRedoute and Veepee are strong contenders.
- Electronics is dominated by local heroes, above all fnac. We have placed RueduCommerce and Pixmania behind them.
- There are also strong French players in Home& Living with Conforama, LaRedoute and MaisonsDuMonde.
- DIY& Garden is also in French hands with the companies Darty, ManoMano and LeroyMerlin.
- The sports sector in France is somewhat more confusing: apart from Decathlon, there are few truly dominant specialists. We have therefore added Zalando for sports fashion alongside Colzey.
- In Beauty & Care, the French beauty chain Nocibe (known in Germany as Douglas) is ahead of Zalando. When it comes to pharmacy products, the DocMorris marketplace is a good choice.