Zara and Toys'R'Us Going on Internet
August 30, 2010 – 11:00 amTwo heavy international trade are late jumping electronic commerce. Zara, the flagship brand of Spanish Inditex group, is launching its first commercial site, this Thursday, in six European countries including France. And the king of American toy, Toys'R'Us, leader of the French market, it will follow suite in September.
The leading players in the trade not to sell their products online, along with their networks of stores, are becoming increasingly rare. "For a year, large retailers have led a major offensive on the Internet, confirms Marc Lolivier, managing director of the Federation of distance selling. They took the time to properly prepare their arrival and are expected to become major players in online commerce.After the shock of the Internet bubble and the fear of cannibalizing their stores drive, people who rateraient this rendezvous with their consumers may pay dearly. "
These signs queens malls and shopping streets do not want to leave the place of the electronic market – 25 billion euros in France, up 25-30% per year – only to specialists in the mail (La Redoute Three Swiss) or "pure players" of the Internet (Amazon, CDiscount, RueDuCommerce, etc..).
This is also the opening of large toys rays from these general e-commerce last year that led Toys'R'Us to react to avoid being nibble market share. One of its main competitors, JoueClub, has launched its e-shop in 1997. "Sales really took off in 2003, said Olivier Donval, webmaster.Today, they account for 5% of our turnover, or 8 to 10 million euros, an increase of 10-15% annually. "The online store provides a complementary offering, complete all the year and not just at Christmas, but also in relation to the mesh stores. Only La Grande Recre remains absent from the web merchant, probably not for long.
A boost for fashion
The arrival of the giant Zara is expected to propel the fashion industry still considered recently by nature antithetical to the remote purchase, at the forefront of products purchased on the Internet. It is already in second place, tied with cultural property, behind the high-tech. The feminization of the Internet changed all that. Kiabi, Camaïeu, Kookai, New Look, Mango them have recently begun. Gap promises to "soon" the launch of its site French merchant, after the United Kingdom today.H & M is still lagging in France but Zara would push to accelerate.
"We are still long way off, but the explosion in sales of textiles on the Web encourages last stragglers, said Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, co-creator of the online sales site PriceMinister. The adventure involves risks, however because selling online is a different job. "The new entrants have the choice between selling on marketplaces, such Amazon, or incorporating all or part of the chain (technology, logistics, site management ).
Last refractory, food, whose sales exploded on the Internet in the United Kingdom or Japan, does not come through yet in France. The locations of Carrefour, Auchan and Casino are marginal compared to their weight in the trade. Even on niches.The online store brand Maille mustards (Unilever), opened in late 2007 with the ambition to create a new distribution channel, has never really worked. Mayonnaise does not take French because users do not instinctively web for this type of purchase and they enjoy one of the best physical distribution networks in the world.
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