Companies in France 2022 edition
Electronic commerce has strongly grown between 2009 and 2019, driven by the development of non-store retailing by large traditional retailers
Ivo Montecino (DGE)
Driven by online sales, non-store retailing turnover exploded over the last decade (+132% in current euros between 2009 and 2019). The boundaries between non-store and store sales are less clear-cut than they used to be, with more and more companies developing their activities in both forms of sales simultaneously.
Two main categories of retail actors could be distinguished over the period 2009-2019 according to their activity in electronic commerce.
The first category, "non-store retailers specialists", accounted for 68% of non-store sales in this sector in 2019, with this share stabilising after a sharp decline between 2009 and 2016.
The second category, "traditional retailers", whose activity was mainly carried out in retail outlets, have gradually entered the non-store retailing field. While they accounted for 10% of total non-store sales in 2009, their share has been around 30% since 2016. Two thirds of the non-store retailing turnover of these traditional retailers was generated by the activity of large non-specialised retailers (supermarkets and hypermarkets). In contrast, small traditional retailers remained outside non-store retailing over the period, accounting for only 1% of non-store turnover in 2019, although they accounted for 20% of turnover and one in five jobs in the sector.