E-commerce and web browsers
In terms of online shopping, e-commerce activity has increased from ten percent in 2003 to more than 62 percent in 2019. The effectiveness of online selling channels is illustrated by the total revenue of 112.2 billion U.S. dollars generated in 2020 and, not surprisingly, the giant e-commerce generalist Amazon at the top. And with the Internet being more omnipresent than ever, omnichannel retail is gaining importance, and adds to the blurred boundaries between offline and online modes of shopping: as digital solutions are progressively seen in-store, consumers have made use of their mobile internet, often comparing prices online before purchasing the product.Search engines and browsers play a considerable role in online shopping. Google accounted for over 92 percent of the French market share and remains the most popular by far. Google Chrome, meanwhile, accounted for 57 percent of the market for mobile internet browsers in France.
Online services and dangers of the internet
While trade and communication have been among the most impacted by the internet, French consumer behavior has also changed in other areas: social networks, online banking, and the consumption of online videos. Faced with this development, companies have quickly adapted, with more than 70 percent having a website and some even using social media to facilitate consumer-brand relationships. With the sanitary crisis, provoked by the COVID-19 virus in France in 2020, other services have seen an increase in usage, with social networks and chat apps being the most used during the lockdown. In the fight against loneliness and keeping a good level of fitness, most 25 to 34 year olds were still comfortable with using dating apps, and working out online.Besides the notorious presence of the dark web, there are cyber attacks, viruses and especially the risk of personal data protection not functioning. Speaking of personal data, in 2020, more than 90 percent of the French population, the deletion of personal data was rated as important, a factor that has been rated high since 2016.
