"Bricks" or "Clicks” - Is France following the trends in England and the US?

May 30, 2013 - PRLog -- IT equipment sales through French e-commerce channels grew steadily during the course of last year, according to research released today by CONTEXT, the European IT market research company. Figures show that 60% of all IT equipment sold to consumers in France went through etailers in 2012 compared to 55% in 2011.

This trend is seen across most products in France, with notebooks accelerating fastest (from 55% to 66% year on year), tablets and inkjet printers following the overall trend, while certain business categories such as lasers and HDD’s/SDD’s not changing significantly. Consumables were sold predominantly through retail in 2012 (82%), marginally less than 2011 (84%) but this nevertheless marked a significant change due to the high margins associated with this category.

In the UK, according to the figures recorded for 2012, 42.3%[1] (http://#_ftn1) of sales of technical products were sold through e-commerce, and this figure is set to rise. In the United States more than 50%[2] (http://#_ftn2) of sales of computer products was reached in 2009. In contracts, in France this figure is just 15% according FEVAD in its study of e-commerce activity in 2012. “This is contested by retailers who argue that such figures under-represent reality as they only count “pure players” and don’t include online retailers, which would mean that etail is closer to 20%. It is still, nevertheless, less than half of the ratio in the UK”, said Adam Simon, MD of Global Retail at CONTEXT.

Adam Simon continues: “A number of reasons come into play here, including healthy competition in the channel and amongst players in bricks in France. In the UK, there have been fewer players and since the collapse of Comet in November 2012 there is one large single actor - Dixons Retail. With less competition consumers have only one place to go to find good deals - the internet”, said Simon.

In addition, property and business tax costs associated with retail in the UK are higher than France with rates rising by 2.8 per cent in 2013, adding £175 million to retailers’ costs. According to the British Retail Consortium, the overall cost of doing business for shopkeepers has risen from £96 billion to £116 billion since 2006.

“As the figures demonstrate, the increase in market share of clicks is well underway in France, and brings its own advantages. But French retailers are well positioned to maintain a future for bricks retailing. It depends on the impetus given through competition and retail creativity - whether in customer service like Darty, in theatrical presentation such as French food retailers have developed and exported throughout the world, or making the most of the advantage of the physical space such as Auchan Drive. It is not inevitable that France should follow the example of England – the players in this ever competitive market who met at MedPi earlier this month are striving to ensure that”, Simon concluded.

About CONTEXT

Headquartered in London with over 130 staff in 12 countries, CONTEXT specializes in tracking technology sales and pricing across the globe. With real-time data captured from a wide range of channel sources including exclusive access to Global Technology Distribution Council members, the $3 billion of sales processed each week in Europe provides the most accurate channel market information available today across a range of business and consumer technology products. CONTEXT reports and services enable our customers to assess their business operations in the light of actual sell-out figures, and make business-critical decisions based on hard data. Follow us on Twitter: @contextworld.com or visit our website: www.contextworld.com.

[1] (http://#_ftnref) Verdict in association with SAS – “How the UK will shop: 2013”

[2] (http://#_ftnref) US Census information – published 30/9/2011

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