The French Language Web-Based Market: A Forecast and Outlook on the Eve of the 21th Century Jacques Nantel Ph.D. Marketing Professor
The French Language Web-Based Market: A Forecast and Outlook on the Eve of the 21th Century
Jacques Nantel Ph.D.
Marketing Professor
1- Basic Numbers
• More than 1 billion pages on the web
• 6,4 millions sites
• 86% of all pages are in English
• 2,4% are in French
• ,5% are in German
• Inktomi, January 2000
Basic Numbers
• Worldwide
– 59,3% of Internet users have English as mother tongue
– For 6,5% it is French
– Global Reach July 1999
In France
• Online sales of 200 MM$ in 1999 vs. 61 MM$ in 1998
• 700,000 people made online purchases in 1999
• The average promotion budget for a french site is 61,000$
– Benchmark Group December 1999
Internet adoption ratesUSA Canada Québec France
Own a PC 53% 56% 43% 26%
Surf on thenet
34% 39% 25% 14%
Buy Online 17% 9% 5% 2%
Sources :Ernst & Young, “ Global Online Retail Report ”, janvier 2000.Price Waterhouse Coopers, “ Canadian
Consumer Technology Study ”, janvier 2000.
Adoption Rates by Country
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Dec 1999 Dec 1997
French AfricaNorth AfricaFranceBelgiumSwitzerlandQuébecCanadaUSA
Nature of sites visited
• 6 of the 10 favorite French Internet sites are US-Based
• 8 of the 10 favorite sites in Quebec are the English version of the same sites
The French Language Web-Based Market: 2 Major issues
• Internet as E-commerce
• Internet as a Media
Internet and E-commerce4 different approaches
Business Consumers
Business B2BDellFord
B2CAmzonCarrefour
Consumers C2BPriceline
C2Ce-bay
Source: Forrester May 1999
The French Language Web-Based Market: the Major issues
• In B2B, because of the nature of the operations which require and foster an integration of systems/companies a common language is required– English– XML
• Supply Chain Management– Ford– Carrefour– Bombardier
The French Language Web-Based Market: the Major issues
• In B2C, the situation is far more complex– Importance of portals
• Original
• or translated
– Dominance of brands– Export capacities
• Only 15% of US site deliver outside of the USA
Centralization
Local
A product typology for B2CStrategies
Digital(music, video, software)
Services(brokerage, banking,
medical)
Local inventories(groceries, clothes, prescription drugs)
Central inventories(cars, furniture,
specialised products)
Distribution DownloadDownloadand mortar
Clickand mortar
Click
Entrance barrier at the international level
None Low High Low
BrandingVariable
importanceVariable
importanceLow
importanceHigh
importance
Price sensitivity High Variable Low Variable
Type of products
Type of marketing strategies
But the main issue remains economies of scales and
scalability
Scalability• E-commerce, for B2C sites, needs volume• An American site «starts» with a market of 78 M
consumers• A site based in Quebec starts with 1,8 M
consumers• One in France with 8,4 M consumers• Somehow, smaller markets must think differently
– Use English– Consider export
The French Language Web-Based Market: 2 Major issues
• Internet as E-commerce
• Internet as a Media
Internet as a media2 models
• Internet as a Media can diffuse Francophone culture and even sell it.
• Culture and information can be used as give-away in order to attract consumers.
– Content more content– Infinit/TVA
In order to be profitable the portal/content strategy relies
• Advertising
– Most of which is not profitable
In 1999
• 75% of all ad revenus were made on 10 sites
• Vs. 68% in 1998
– Source (iAB)
In order to be profitable the portal/content strategy relies
• Advertising
– Most of which is not profitable
• Referrals
– Back E-Commerce
The French language web-based market will…...
• Not be straightforward
• Might be weak in B2B
• Can be strong in B2C if we create volume
• Will be strong as a way to diffuse cultural products but for that we need– Set up common or linked portals both for
advertising revenues and for E-Commerce spin-off
Merci
For more info Http://hec.ca/pages/jacques.nantel