Online retail sales in France jumped more than 11% last year and could grow further in 2020 despite fears of slower consumer spending because of strikes over pension reforms, the country's e-commerce federation (Fevad) has said.
The French spent €103.4 billion online in 2019, helped by Christmas sales of €20.3 billion, Fevad said, predicting that sales this year could reach €115 billion.
Fourth-quarter online spending was €29.2 billion, up 11.3%, though Fevad said online retailers did not benefit from any strike-related disruption to shopping in brick and mortar stores.
Consumer Spending
The French economy, the second-biggest in the euro zone, shrank 0.1% quarter on quarter as consumer spending and business investment slowed in the face of the protests, data from the INSEE statistics agency showed.
As in previous years, the online retail sector's growth was helped by an increasing number of online vendors and as growing numbers of consumers turned to the Internet and mobile phones to shop more often, Fevad said.
Shoppers' average spend online dipped but there was an increase in the frequency of purchases with 1.7 billion online transactions in 2019, up 15.7% from the previous year.
In 2019 e-commerce accounted for 9.9% of overall French retail sales, up from 9.1% in 2018.
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