Compass Lexecon, specialising in economic intelligence, was commissioned by Amazon to study the perception of French people on the contributions of e-commerce to their overall shopping experience; as well as the effect of e-commerce in terms of inflation reduction and protection of their purchasing power. This is the first study of this kind conducted in France to our knowledge.

Antoine Victoria, Vice President at Compass Lexecon, who directed the research, said: “Our study is based on a survey and an econometric model. Unprecedented in its purpose and robust in its methodology, it reveals that e-commerce contributes positively to the overall shopping experience of French people, who particularly appreciate the vast choice, time savings and attractive prices offered by e-commerce. It also makes it possible to quantify the ‘anti-inflation’ power of e-commerce, whose growth allowed the French people to save the equivalent of over one year’s worth of inflation during the 2010-2019 period, i.e. €17 billion.”

E-commerce puts French people on an equal footing when it comes to buying

This unprecedented study also provides an analysis of the perception of e-commerce by French people living in rural areas. The study indicates that “consumers living in rural areas use e-commerce as much as urban consumers, and perceive the same benefits to their overall shopping experience”. However, the research highlights that e-commerce customers “value the ability of e-commerce to increase savings related to transportation costs most” in a context where nine out of ten rural respondents use their vehicle to make purchases.

The internet ensures effective price equality, with a unified offer throughout the country, which allows many French people to overcome territorial inequalities to access a vast selection of goods, at the same price.

E-commerce acts as an anti-inflation shield

Using an econometric model, this study made it possible to isolate the effect of e-commerce’s growth on prices online and offline, and therefore to quantify its impact in terms of inflation reduction and supporting purchasing power. Extending over a period of ten years and based on public data from INSEE andthe OECD , the work concludes that “the growth of e-commerce has contributed to lowering the prices of all goods and services consumed by the French, whether or not they make online purchases. Between 2010 and 2019, through its effect on inflation, the growth of e-commerce allowed all French households to achieve an overall savings of €17 billion, across all categories of products and services combined.”

Advantages of e-commerce to limit inflation:

  1. The best price is just a few clicks away: consumers can easily compare offers. 84% of consumers who make online purchases say that e-commerce allows them to save money by buying at the best price [1].
  2. The offer is wide, which  allows consumers to choose cheaper alternatives. 89% of consumers making online purchases state that e-commerce allows them to have a wider choice of products. 77% of them also declare that e-commerce enables them, in the current context of rising prices, to find alternatives with better value for money than the products they usually buy.
  3. Free delivery allows everyone, in cities as well as in rural areas, to have access to products at the same price.

Committed to working alongside French people in their daily lives
 
Since our arrival in France in 2000, we have set ourselves the objective of making life easier for French people by allowing them, regardless of where they live, to benefit from a wide range of products at low prices, combined with reliable delivery services. Since then, we have been innovating and investing in France to reduce geographic inequalities and put French people on an equal footing in accessing the products and services they need. For example, 94% of Amazon customers consider the brand useful in their daily lives, and 85% of customers located in rural areas believe that we are in a position to offer them products that they cannot find in stores near them [2].

“Purchasing power is the first concern of French people and we are aware that in this difficult period, every euro counts. For more than 20 years, Amazon's ambition has been to offer all French people low prices, a wide choice of products, and an excellent shopping experience and this remains our priority every day," said Frédéric Duval, our Country Manager of Amazon.fr.

All year round, we offer our customers programmes that allow them to make significant savings on everyday purchases, such as Amazon Warehouse, Amazon Outlet, and Subscribe & Save.

This caught the French people’sattention, who consider Amazon to be one of the first non-food retailers able to maintain their purchasing power (Opinionway for Bonial), confirming the findings of a recent ifop study where 74% of regular buyers on Amazon claim to find products cheaper than elsewhere (ifop, 2022).

Find a detailed summary of the results of the study conducted by Compass Lexecon here.

[1] OpinionWay for Compass Lexecon, 2023
[2] Ifop, 2022