Themes for 2018 – e-commerce

One of the key market changes worldwide in recent years has been the growth of online shopping.

The United Kingdom leads the way in Europe at 15% of total retail sales in 2016. Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden and Poland were the next highest at between 5 and 10%.

France has developed a different model to the United Kingdom, with more than 4,000 drive-through click and collect outlets, making up 6% of total grocery sales.

Online food and drink sales reached $7 billion in France last year, representing 1 in 5 of all online purchases.

What about Amazon? One of the top executives at France’s Casino, which has announced a partnership with Britain’s Ocado, commented: “Amazon has developed a fantastic model in terms of non-food – but it has not been able to deliver in food.”

To which, I would just add ‘so far’.

Click and collect, home delivery, omnichannel … as they say in France, “la lutte continue.”