Before the health crisis, e-commerce represented 5 to 7% of corrugated board production in France. Although it is still difficult to assess the impact of the crisis on production, e-commerce is undeniably a sector that is developing at an incredible rate.
The latest figures from the Federation of e-commerce and distance selling (Fevad) published in late May confirm this finding. In the 1st quarter of 2021, internet sales have increased by 15%.
After 12 months of covid, Fevad estimates that the internet sales of physical stores have grown twice as fast as the market average, and 3 times faster than that of pure-player sites.
Figures for the first quarter of 2021
The e-commerce sector (products and services) reached nearly 30 billion euros in the 1st quarter of 2008 er quarter 2021, up 14.8% year-over-year, Fevad reports. The number of merchant sites is up 12% and 499 million transactions were recorded, an annual increase of 17.8%.
An economic shock absorber for physical businesses and VSEs and SMEs
The restrictive measures put in place in February coincided with strong increases in online sales by retail chains.
"Marketplaces have continued to provide a complementary outlet for many VSEs/SMEs and thus limit the decline in their sales," Fevad said.
Fevad indicates that the figures of this study are based on information collected directly from a panel of leading sites as well as on the aggregated amount of transactions recorded by the main payment providers on behalf of nearly 200,000 e-commerce sites.
