Does Amazon really represent "20% of e-commerce" in France?

An Amazon warehouse.

(illustration) -

• Questioned in the Senate on the situation of small French businesses, forced to draw the curtain during a period of confinement, and the risk of an increased hegemony of the giants of online sales, the Secretary of State for Digital denounced a "French psychosis on Amazon which doesn't make much sense ”.

• “E-commerce is 10% of commerce in France, Amazon is 20% of e-commerce in France!

  », Affirmed Cédric O.

• Figures in line with the latest statistics published by two specialists in the sector.

  We take stock.

The citizens and elected officials who are worried, in this period of reconfinement, to see the closure of small French businesses promoting the turnover of the juggernaut of online sales, Amazon, are they wrong to give the American group a position hegemonic in France?

This is what Cédric O, secretary of state for digital technology, suggested on Wednesday November 4 in the Senate, in response to a question on this subject: “There is currently a French psychosis on Amazon which does not have much. meaningless.

E-commerce is 10% of commerce in France, Amazon is 20% of e-commerce in France!

"

. @ cedric_o: "There is currently a French psychosis on Amazon which does not make much sense. E-commerce is 10% of commerce in France, Amazon is 20% of e-commerce. It doesn't there isn't a country where Amazon is lower than in France "#QAG pic.twitter.com/bbziqxC6fd

- Public Senate (@publicsenat) November 4, 2020

His assertion, however, aroused the disbelief of several elected officials present in the hemicycle as of certain Internet users.

FAKE OFF

Contacted by

to find out more about the origin of these figures, Cédric O's cabinet had not responded to our requests before the publication of our article.

The statistics put forward by the Secretary of State for Digital, however, correspond to the latest figures relayed by the Federation of e-commerce and distance selling (Fevad).

In its latest report on “key e-commerce figures”, published last July based on 2019 figures, Fevad noted: “Commerce [excluding fuels, pharmacies, medical and orthopedic items] represents 9.8% retail trade but still less than 2% of food trade, excluding drive.

"

The federation also tells us the origin of the "20%" market share of French e-commerce put forward by the Secretary of State to the Senate: "The figures on Amazon cited by Cédric O are figures from Kantar", a company specializing in consulting and market research.

A market share of around 22%

Last March, Kantar, using the latest data collected from his sample "of 12,000 individuals representative of French people aged 18 and over [declaring] their purchases made on the internet continuously", underlined Amazon's record growth. France.

"The top 10 sites where the French spend the most is as follows: Amazon, Cdiscount, Veepee, Fnac, Darty [...] Logically, the market share of Amazon's value in France is increasing significantly (+2.2 pts) and stood at 22.2%, ie 2.7 times more than the market share of the second site, Cdiscount (8.1%), ”Kantar noted.

This makes Amazon “the most important player” in online sales of physical goods (excluding transport reservations), as recently pointed out to our colleagues at

Frédéric Vallette, director of the Distribution department at Kantar.

Still, all the other e-commerce measurement indicators confirm Amazon's largely majority position against its competitors in France.

First in terms of audience, since in the second quarter of 2020, the number of unique monthly visitors to the platform represented the equivalent of 49.7% of the French population, with a significant lead over Cdiscount (37.3% ) and Fnac.com (27.5%).

Amazon also remains at the top of the latest Fevad ranking for the number of customers (and not just visitors) of these platforms, at 53.7%, far ahead of Fnac (27%) and Cdiscount (18.2%) .

However, if the evolution of e-commerce spending has experienced significant growth during containment (with a 37% increase in value over the cumulative months of March to May 2020), as

was able to see from September “Kantar - Worldpanel panel” data also indicate that “the period of crisis was clearly unfavorable for Amazon in France”.

"Out of 100% spent [online] by the French, 13 euros are spent on Amazon," notes Kantar, a decline of 8 points in the market share of the American giant, while sites like Fnac, Darty and Boulanger have progressed over the same period.

This did not prevent Amazon, in the third quarter of 2020, from tripling its profits globally.

Justice

Loiret: A "yellow vest" dismissed by Amazon wins his industrial tribunal trial

Media

Report information that you think is false to the "Fake Off" team of "20 Minutes"

• Society

• Amazon

• Fake off

• Government

• E-commerce