Is my e-commerce site performing up to market standards?
Like every year, the FEVAD has published its report, revealing the key figures for e-commerce and distance selling. A statistical compendium revealing the major results for 2022, as well as current trends in the online market in France.
The FEVAD (Fédération du e-commerce et de la vente à distance) has based this survey on a sample of 100 e-commerce sites and 8 secure online payment software applications, in order to build up a comprehensive picture of a sector that is maintaining its strong growth.
E-traders, the healthy state of the online market is an opportunity to develop your online business.
FEVAD's key indicators are strategic data that Soledis web agency can help you understand. These data enable us to draw up a portrait of your e-business, position it in its market and identify the trends to follow to boost your sales.Our customized audit offer
After a record year for the e-commerce market in 2021, the sector experienced a slight slowdown, due to the end of the health crisis and the recovery of physical commerce. However, in 2022, e-commerce will continue to grow, driven in particular by the dynamism of the transport, travel and leisure sectors, with 35.7 billion euros in sales recorded in the second quarter by FEVAD. In its 12th survey on the morale of French e-tailersFEVAD also notes that the morale of e-tailers is not weakening, despite inflation and an unstable international context. In fact, 71% are as optimistic or even more so than in 2021.
Online sales of services & products under the microscope.
In 2022, the French online sales sector is now worth 146.9 billion euros, up 13.8 % on the previous year. Growth is boosted by the sale of services, which adds up to +36 % over twelve months.
At the same time, sales of physical products fell by 7 % over the year. This figure needs to be put into context, with the lifting of health restrictions and the return of consumer habits in physical stores.
FEVAD has drawn up a forecast for online product sales in 2022:
- Quarter 1: -15.5% compared with Q1 2021
- Quarter 2: -17%
- Quarter 3: -2%
This drop should be seen in the context of the exceptional figures achieved by all e-boutiques offering product catalogs during the Covid period, due in particular to the health safety measures that paved the way for e-commerce. Results for sales of physical products online thus remain at +33 %, compared with the state of the sector prior to the Covid crisis.
The only uncertainty for the current year is that the economic climate will be made more sensitive by inflation, which will tend to curb consumer spending on both physical stores and e-shops. Moreover, in its survey on the morale of e-tailers, FEVAD shows that fewer decision-makers expect their sales to grow, although they are still in the majority (61% versus 67% in 2022).
E-business 2023: making your mark in the hyper-competitive online sales market.
According to FEVAD figures, 10,000 new e-commerce sites were created in 2022, representing an increase of 5 %. Online sales via marketplaces, even the most emblematic ones, fell by 1.6 % over the past year.
E-commerce thus remains an unavoidable area of opportunity, thanks to the flexibility of its sales model, particularly for B2B commerce. New French e-commerce players are finding numerous advantages:
- development of international visibility,
- diversification of acquisition channels,
- increase in sales,
- personalizing the customer's purchasing path.
The emergence of new online shopping reflexes
The figures published by FEVAD demonstrate the importance of tracking changes in e-shoppers' purchasing behavior, in order to match the offer available on your platform. Over the past few years, we've seen the emergence of second-hand and refurbished products. Valued at over 7 billion euros in France, online sales of second-hand products are a trend to watch. Some B2C e-commerce platforms have already embraced this circular economy model. And there's every reason to believe that this trend will continue to grow, since according to FEVAD, CSR is the top investment priority for e-tailers, ahead of IT and international sales. This is the first time that CSR has topped the podium, with 52% of the vote.
As far as B2B e-commerce is concerned, the constant challenge remains the ability to adapt to the specificities of the market between online professionals. A demanding approach, where brand reputation and expertise prevail.
Audience targeting, inbound marketing, video content creation, webinars, etc.
Increasingly, B2B is following the lead of B2C, in order to extend its online reputation and respond to the consumption habits of its customers. The idea is to create links, interactivity and experience, in order to promote your products and services to your professional target audience.
Website design & development, how to adapt your e-commerce to online shopping practices?
THE IMPORTANCE OF RESPONSIVE DESIGN
Unsurprisingly, mobile sales are also up 8 % on 2021. Smartphones and tablets are thus confirming their place in online consumption habits, and are part of an e-commerce trend that has already begun and will be sustained from 2020 onwards.
For e-tailers, this mobile reflex needs to be prioritized when developing their platform, in order to offer a shopping experience that is capable of meeting buyers' expectations.
Flexible payment options
With 2.3 billion transactions carried out on the web in 2022, the results demonstrate the significant growth in Internet users' purchasing habits, with an increase of 6.5 % over one year. The average basket thus reaches 65 euros, i.e. +6.9 % for each transaction, bringing the total annual basket to 3,500 euros per cyber-buyer. This increase comes against a backdrop of economic crisis, inflation and rising global prices.
As with delivery, this expectation of diversifying transaction methods is on the rise, leading e-tailers to adapt their online payment methods. You now need to have a choice to satisfy the various B2B and B2C purchasing behaviors on your platform:
- Credit cards
- Checks
- Mobile payments with digital wallets
- Payments via Paypal
- Order forms
Flexible payment options cater to every e-buyer's preferred shopping habits. Digital wallets and Paypal payments are becoming increasingly popular. In France, according to FEVAD data, 32 % of Internet users use fractional payments, and 34 % of them have already used deferred payment.
This could be the key to your online business' ability to adapt to changing online consumer habits.
Secure transactions
Between sensitive banking information and personal data, e-commerce sites are mines of strategic data, requiring a high level of security to preserve them. Threats to the cybersecurity of your e-commerce business have become commonplace, directly exposing your business and its brand image.
Since 2020, the sector most affected by cyber attacks has been the retail sector
Protecting your customers and your data against potential threats requires a tooling and configuration of your IT infrastructure :
- SSL digital certificate for HTTPS,
- Choice of web hosting and updates,
- Use of recognized and reliable payment providers,
- Backup via Backup and PRA,
- Implementation of RGPD obligations for the collection, storage and use of users' personal data.
Soledis, a web agency specializing in e-commerce, supports its B2B and B2C customers in developing and securing their e-boutique, with agile, high-performance security solutions tailored to their needs. Securing your e-commerce is a priority.
Customized customer experience at the heart of the 2023 webmarketing strategy
The shopping experience on your e-shop should be fast and efficient. The adoption of a customized webmarketing strategy enables your online portal to adapt to your customers, providing them with a unique shopping experience, even anticipating their expectations.
NOTA BENE : 80 % of consumers are more likely to complete an online purchase with brands offering personalized experiences. (Source: Forbes)
To boost sales, offer a personalized shopping experience
One equation sums up the 2023 trend: personalization = conversion.
This is one of the key challenges for e-commerce players, to remain competitive in an ultra-competitive web environment.
A tailored experience is one that creates value and provides anticipatory assistance in navigating your platform. Beyond the purchase, the experience must be global, and also consider the other dimensions of the customer journey, i.e. the quality of customer service, delivery choices and status, returns and so on.
Personalized customer navigation is now an integral part of your sales strategy. It helps build customer loyalty through a relevant experience configured to each prospect's expectations.
To this end, Soledis has selected for you the multidimensional trends of 2023, capable of guaranteeing this benefit to your e-buyers:
- Make way for m-commerce. Mobile shopping is now popular with the 12-25 year-old generation, for whom the main transactions take place online. With nearly one in two purchases made on mobile in France by 2022, mobile is becoming an essential growth opportunity for your e-shop.This is one of the priorities for 2023: your shopping experience on mobile must be as efficient and intuitive as it is on the computer. Between loading speed, ergonomics and ease of navigation, it's essential to offer a high-quality mobile experience.
- The successful strategy of omnichannel selling. By using different sales channels and platforms simultaneously to capture your prospects, omnichannel selling proposes a sales strategy model modeled on your customers' buying behavior. By diversifying your points of contact with your customers, you optimize your sales potential.
- Propose tailor-made shopping experiences. The time has come for ultra-personalization of the customer journey, with the integration of tracking tools and AI. This means your e-shop can provide each customer with personalized recommendations, based on previous purchases, browsing behavior and location. Artificial intelligence (90 %), followed by ChatGPT (84 %) and Virtual Reality (58 %) are the innovations deemed most promising by e-tailers on the FEVAD panel.
- Surfing on the green trend with an e-shop based on an eco-responsible model. This trend, which is very much in evidence among Generation Z, includes the environment in your e-business strategy. More and more e-boutiques are incorporating the idea of sustainable development and the ecological approach into their supply chain: delivery options including CO2-neutral solutions, ecological or sustainable packaging, carbon footprint calculation, made in France, etc.
To personalize the shopping experience on your online store, you need to know who your visitors are. Do you have the right e-commerce tracking tools?
Stay connected to the reality of your e-commerce platform by collecting and analyzing data from your site in real time: navigation on your pages, clicks, behavior on your product sheets, etc. The aim of tracking is to provide you with data and to exhaustively monitor the performance of your e-boutique. An essential asset for fine-tuning your marketing strategy.
In 2023, it's not just about selling. From now on, the role of your e-shop is to inspire, to advise, to set the scene for an exclusive experience for your customers. To take stock of your strategy, don't hesitate to seek the outside eye of an expert. Our webmarketing audit enables you to situate your e-business in its market and identify its strengths and weaknesses to increase your sales. Analysis of your performance, measurement of online demand in your market, performance of your sales tunnel (personalization of the experience, payment methods, delivery options...), importance of M-commerce in your market, relevance of your tracking plan... these are just some of the points raised by our webmarketing audit.
Conclusion
Manage your platform and orchestrate a unique customer experience with the support of a partner specialized in e-commerce
and webmarketing. The Soledis Group boosts the performance of your e-business, providing you with expert recommendations and designing high value-added, highly customized solutions for your customers.
