Global E-Commerce: Europe - E-commerce Efforts In France

E-COMMERCE EFFORTS IN FRANCE

When Socialist party candidate Francois Mitte-rand took control of France in the early 1980s, the country embarked on its first real online effort. The government-owned France Telecom distributed a settop appliance, known as the Minitel, which first operated as an electronic directory connected to a government network, to every household. According to a December 2000 article in DSN Retailing Today, "As France's networking needs evolved, the Minitel soon became Europe's first e-commerce channel, offering travel packages, concert tickets, hotel reservations and messageries, the precursor to the present-day chat room." Although France made early use of online technology, its widespread adoption of the Minitel was seen by many as a long-term liability that prevented the nation from embracing newer e-commerce technology. "By distributing the Minitel to virtually all of France, France Telecom had created a market standard within the country—and a limited one at that—which for better or worse was in large part responsible for the late arrival of the World Wide Web in that country."

France Telecom launched Wanadoo, an ISP, in 1996, the same year that AOL first began offering online services to residents of France. Five years later, in an effort to become one of the top three ISPs in Europe, Wanadoo acquired the leading U.K.-based ISP, Freeserve; the purchase boosted Wanadoo's subscriber base to nearly five million. Other leading e-commerce ventures in France included FNAC.com, the online version of the 50-store bricks and mortar chain selling book, music, and electronics throughout France. eBay moved into France in 2001 when it paid $112 million for iBazar S.A., a French auction site with 2.4 million users and operations in Belgium, Brazil, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Online efforts by major French companies such as Louis Vuitton S.A. also continued to bolster e-commerce throughout the nation.