France Web Market Overview
Next in our
series on international Web markets is France. Other countries profiled so far have been
Germany, Holland, Poland, Korea, United Kingdom, Russia, Spain, China, Turkey, Italy and Brazil. France
has the 9th highest number of Internet users in the world, with 26.8 million. It has an
Internet penetration of 44%, putting it below countries like the US, UK and Germany (all
of which are over 60%). But France is similar to its neighbors Italy and Spain, which are
both in the 40-50% range for Internet penetration. Perhaps more significant is the number
of French language speakers on the Web, which is estimated to be 4.4% of all Internet
users - or 45.8 Million. However that's only an estimated 12% of all French speakers, so
there is plenty of room for growth there.
My thanks to Thomas Ezan and Jean-Pierre Christie for the information in this post. Both kindly sent me details about the French Web market and its most popular apps.
Overview of French Market
When I think of France and the Web, I think of Netvibes (the Personalized Start Page used by 5 million people according to recent reports), Kelkoo (the price comparison engine sold to yahoo), and Jeff Clavier (not a web app, but a French angel investor!). But obviously there is much more to the French Web, so I asked Thomas to tell me more...
R/WW: Do most people use French web apps/sites instead of the US ones?
Thomas: Not really, except for news websites. For example newspaper websites like LeMonde, Liberation and LeFigaro. There are also many internet and IT-focused websites like 01net. All of those sites are in french. The typical french person is not used to reading or talking in english, unlike in Germany, Netherlands and the nordic countries. There is also french version of Techcrunch.
R/WW: Do the big companies have French language versions of their products? (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft etc)
Thomas: Google is the number 1 website in France and the other big companies like msn, yahoo are also very well used in France. For example their email services are well used. They all have a french version (which they must do to target the french market). MSN Messenger is the number 1 IM service (AIM is not very well used here). The french versions of amazon and eBay are also very famous here.
R/WW: What are the biggest Web companies in France?
Thomas: I'm not sure, but meetic is number 1 as far as turnover is concerned (it's a dating site). And it's started to spread around Europe. There is also priceminister and 2xmoinscher, were people can sells second-hand stuffs (it's a kind of eBay without the auction concept).
The biggest e-shops are Cdiscount.com and Rueducommerce, were you can find anything (buying on the internet is now common in france, even for my mother!). Lastminute.com is the number 1 travel site. There is also kelkoo, a "price comparer" created by Pierre Chappaz and sold to Yahoo for millions.
Thomas' Top Web Apps
Zlio: a kind of Loomia or MyPickList, which goes further in enabling you to create your own shop online (here is mine). Thus it's a "smart clone", by cloning and then innovating further... isn't it innovation ? ;-) [Richard: yes, definitely!]
Wikio: made by the ex-ceo and founder of kelkoo. It's a kind of digg-like in french, with many technical and financial features. Chappaz is a "VIP" in the "net-economie", with a weekly tribune in liberation, a big french newspaper - so there's been a lot of buzz on wikio.
LaFraise: created by a guy from Ubisoft, it's a clone of threadless but it's taking over and becoming international. Personaly I prefer lafraise to threadless, which doesn't have the same "graphical spirit".
Podemus: a podcasting reference founded by Bertrand Lenotre, it could be compared to odeo but it includes video.
Jean-Pierre's List of French Web Apps
Digg Clones
http://www.wikio.fr/: the main french digg clone (see above)
http://www.scoopeo.com/: another french language digg clone [update: Scoopeo is from Belgium, not France]
http://fuzz.fr/: digg clone
Photos and Videos
http://www.fotolia.fr/: photo site
http://www.dailymotion.com/: watching/publishing/sharing videos
http://www.criteo.com/films.aspx: films and videos
http://www.eyeka.com/: photo and video sharing
http://www.kewego.fr/: video sharing
http://www.skema.fr/: video solutions
http://www.atafoto.com/: online shared photo book
Social Networks / Blogs / Bookmarking
http://www.6nergies.net/: professional social network
http://www.linkedfeed.com/: automated and customizable information social network
http://www.yoono.com/: rss reader/integrated social book marking
http://www.widiwici.com/index.php: Sport exploits, information sharing, challenges
http://www.blogspirit.com/fr/index.php: professional online blogs service
http://www.agoravox.fr/: citizen media
Misc
http://www.i-maginer.fr/: real-time 3D web services
http://www.netvibes.com/: personalized start page
http://www.kartoo.com/flash.php3: meta search engine
http://www.zlio.com/: « tupperware » like website (see above)
http://www.uneinvitation.com/: leisure organization platform
http://www.jamendo.com/fr/: music online
http://blog.moovement.com/: jobs
http://www.bluekiwi.fr/: intranet solution?
Top visited French specific websites
http://orange.fr/: top french telecom provider’s website
http://free.fr/: second-placed telecom provider’s website
http://www.voila.fr/: dating, chat website
http://www.mappy.com/: road and travel guide
http://www.fnac.com/: big French ebusiness website
http://www.boursorama.com/: first stock exchange website
http://www.skyrock.com/front/index.php: Skyrock radio’s website
Summary
As always, please leave a comment if we've missed something or you have more information about the French Web market. Thanks again to Thomas and Jean-Pierre for the details in this post!
Update: based on comments below, here are some additions. Apologies to those we missed out first time round...
- I completely forgot that Personalized Start Page Webwag is French, even though I profiled it recently!
- skyblog.com, the largest "blog" and social network in France currently (thanks ouriel from Techcrunch France, who also pointed to their special tag for French web apps.
- http://wecheese.com, another social network (thanks Paul Monnet)
- vpod.tv (video sharing), viaduc (french LinkedIn), photoways (photo printing and related services) -- via Jeff Clavier
- http://www.xwiki.com (Collaborative Intranets / Wiki solutions)
- http://www.geoportail.fr (A kind of Google Earth)
- http://v3d.pagesjaunes.fr (2 french cities - Paris & Rennes - in 3D)
- French Search Engines: http://www.kartoo.com and http://www.exalead.com -- all these suggested by Ronan / Business Garden
- http://www.xfruits.com (RSS service)
- http://www.blogmemes.fr (digg-like in an international network)
- http://www.framasoft.net (open source directory) -- thanks Clea
- http://www.visualkit.com. -- thks Laure
- JobMeeters -- thks Julien
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Hi Richard
Thanks for mentionning TechCrunch France. You give here a pretty good insight of the French web2.0 situation. We created a special tag http://fr.techcrunch.com/tag/Web2.0fr/ so specific french web2.0 cies can me monitored.
Lots of companies are not mentionned here. Jamendo is in French but a Luxembourg based company actually
But I would certainly add skyblog.com, the largest "blog" and social network in place at the moment, although it is not my favourite
Posted by: ouriel | September 18, 2006 7:03 AM
Richard, this article will call protest from all people whose works are not metionned here. and they are many out wiiling to put you under "guillotine".
I love you articles and this one is a good insight about french web market.
I'd like to mention the website of a friend of mine. it's a social network website well designed http://wecheese.com it has huge potential. I was lucky enough to take a view of the future version. it's awesome.
Posted by: Paul Monnet | September 18, 2006 8:54 AM
One thing that comes to mind is that all of a sudden - who would have thought - is the fact that France and the French users (especially the blogging community) has exploded and now overtaken the UK as second largest market within Europe (after Germany). I remember back in 2000 when the more important markets were Germany (still is), Italy, Spain and the UK. Italy has pretty much vanished while France is storming to the top. Anywa, just a thought...
Cheers
Ole
Posted by: Ole Brandenburg | September 18, 2006 9:53 AM
Hey Richard!
Interesting piece. There a few services missing, like vpod.tv (video sharing), viaduc (french LinkedIn), photoways (photo printing and related services),...
Also, I disagree that Wikio is a only a Digg clone, it is actually a news search engine that implements user voting. It mixes features of Topix.net, Digg and our beloved TechMeme to create a unique display of news (including mainstream and blogs). But as I am one of the shareholders, I am obvioulsy biaised :-).
Posted by: Jeff Clavier | September 18, 2006 10:06 AM
Hey ! Scoopeo is from Belgium ...
Posted by: Vincenzo | September 18, 2006 12:49 PM
Merci all! :-) Looks like I have some updates to do, which I will do soon. Please keep the suggestions for updates coming....
Posted by: Richard MacManus | September 18, 2006 2:51 PM
A few other interesting french sites...
http://www.xwiki.com (Collaborative Intranets / Wiki solutions)
http://www.geoportail.fr (A kinda Google Earth, but fucked up...)
http://v3d.pagesjaunes.fr (2 french cities - Paris & Rennes - in 3D)
French Search Engines:
http://www.kartoo.com
http://www.exalead.com
...
Posted by: Ronan / Business Garden | September 18, 2006 2:59 PM
Hi Richard,
Thanks for this interesting information. I certainly didn't have an appreciation of how the social media scene works in France, even though I live only 40 miles away (in England!).
cheers
sw
Posted by: Simon Wakeman | September 18, 2006 11:03 PM
There's few other good french Websites who have english version too :
http://www.xfruits.com (RSS service)
http://www.blogmemes.fr (digg-like in an international network)
http://www.framasoft.net (open source directory)
Posted by: Clea | September 19, 2006 1:28 AM
Sorry to dampen your enthousiasm on French connectivity but the figures, as soon as you leave urban "corridors" are not good. A lot of French people still suffer dial-up connection. So they just do not bother with it. Living or working with the Internet in rural France can be quite a horror story. Since the "historical" internet provider France Telecom has been privatized (now called Orange), not many players are interested in mountains or not-very-populated area.
Posted by: tech bee | September 19, 2006 6:00 AM
Hello there or shall i say bonjour ;)
Very interesting format, compact, sharp. Good job.
You could have mentionned www.dailymotion.com
See ya
Posted by: novitch | September 19, 2006 9:07 AM
Thank you for this presentation of major french companies. I would appreciate a selection of addictives sites, where you can take days to decide to dig in their concept. My favorite is http://www.visualkit.com. Do you know some other sites with such original subject?
Posted by: Laure | September 19, 2006 9:55 AM
You forgot JobMeeters (http://www.jobmeeters.com) ! JobMeeters provides one of the best of breed solution for referral based recruiting, the most efficient way for talent acquisition.
Posted by: Julien | September 19, 2006 1:35 PM
You missed the next big one: Webwag.com !
Posted by: a Webwag Fan | September 19, 2006 11:03 PM
Hi. There's also blogmarks.net, a social-bookmarking service...
Posted by: Fred Bird | September 20, 2006 4:42 AM
Hello, also forgot to add http://wwww.kiffemoi.com an online dating site mixing dating, tagging and mapping.
Hot dates to find just around the corner :)
Posted by: antonio queiroz | September 20, 2006 8:13 AM
Some other french Web 2.0 :
http://www.wantuno.com/ e-commerce (Woot.com like)
http://newsburn.com/ a Wikio like
http://www.wat.tv/ a MySpace like by TF1 (1st french TV)
http://www.yakaz.fr/ advertising
http://wakoo.fr/ Chat for blogs
http://www.cyticita.com Social networking
http://www.ziki.com/ Online identity
http://www.widiwici.com/ Sport networking
and many other ...
You can find all the logos on my blog here : http://altaide.typepad.com/jacques_froissant_altade/2006/05/web_20_en_franc.html
Posted by: Jacques Froissant (Altaide : le recrutement 2.0) | September 20, 2006 1:41 PM
Hi Richard,
Here is web>tooz, a Web 2.0 News tracker(single page layout displaying both french/english feeds for screen/cellular/pda/tablet/..)
www.webtooz.com
Posted by: Dominique VDA | September 20, 2006 3:26 PM
I'll add a few ones:
The map provider www.viamichelin.fr
Del.icio.us' clone: www.Blogmarks.net
The famous french open-source blog platform: Dotclear(also available in english): www.dotclear.net
The famous e-shop www.pixmania.fr (now all over Europe) created in France recently bought by a british group...
About the travel websites in France, nobody mentioned www.voyage-sncf.com although it is the most visited ecommerce travel website in France (jointventure of Sncf and Expedia). Of course Lastminute is NOT "the number 1 travel site" in France...
http://www.veilleinfotourisme.fr/servlet/com.univ.utils.LectureFichierJoint?CODE=1138350062767&LANGUE=0
In France we are also very good at opening private shopping portals (a huge success in France) www.vente-privee.com is the most successful (and most visited too, ranks 23th on the most visited French German and English ecommerce website).
Posted by: Syl from Blogontravel.com | September 22, 2006 11:43 AM
For the francophones in the crowd - Simpy is available in French, see the announcement.
Posted by: Otis Gospodnetic | October 2, 2006 5:14 PM
thanks for the quote.
Posted by: Richard Menneveux (rMen) | October 12, 2006 7:18 AM
Thank you for mentionning http://www.uneinvitation.com in your post.
I agree with you, people are not used to read in english or use services in english. I personally think some are missing more than "half of the good stuff available on the web".
Although it gave us the opportunity to explore an existing service in a different way.
UneInvitation.com had been inspired by Evite.com
The service started in 1998 while I was a student in the US and I remember receiving my first Evite and thinking "Whouah ! This is cool" :-) I tried to have my friends using it but the "english barrier was too strong for them to get addicted to the service or to understand it" then again Internet was so expansive in France at the time that nobody really wanted to have it.
Now that we are back on track UneInvitation.com is live since 2003 and it managed to have new features every other month (We added RSS feeds, Share events, Blog, Boris the intern (with a head of a hippo!)Paypal etc.)
We are on the verge of releasing a version 3 ( our service is now including "white labels " for small company or individuals).
Our business model is actually not based on advertising, but more on the "pay for not having ads , if you want to", "buy text for your invitation","Buy a one shot professional invitation : your logo, your design, no commitement", + a lot of partners for gifts and whish lists for birthdays and housewarming.
We provide "fundraising tools" (with a cool Meter showing if you are closer to attend your goal).
We used to have a commission fee for "invitation where you ask for an entrance fee to your guests" because we had a Banking platform, but with Paypal starting November 5th, we're now able to offer direct payment from the guest to the organizer via their paypal account.
But if you do not want to use any features listed above, everything is free . Create an invititation on UneInvitation.com is Free.
Regards,
Marie Hulin
CEO
Posted by: Marie Hulin | October 26, 2006 7:42 AM
Hello I need a franch site in vich people can sell their tinks for example Mobile phone. Please help me to find that kind of site
Posted by: Arto | March 11, 2007 10:56 AM
Bonjour,
I am really intrested in your cosmatic co, in France, would you please send me the ist of them.
Thanks.
Posted by: Sara Hooshangi | June 22, 2007 11:05 PM
Bonjour,
I am really intrested in your cosmatic co, in France, would you please send me the List of them.
Thanks
Posted by: Sara Hooshangi | June 23, 2007 5:18 AM