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