French franchise sector exceeds 50 billion euro turnover

Still larger than
e-commerce

Franchising has seen its turnover increase 21 % over the past ten
years, according to the tenth franchise poll performed by the Fédération
française de la franchise (French Franchise Federation) and Banque Populaire. Franchise remains bigger than e-commerce in the Hexagon, as e-commerce will remain just short of the 50 billion euro turnover
mark according to e-commerce federation Fevad.

Franchises have managed to grow strongly in the past ten years, because of
an increase in the number of formulas and the number of franchisees. The number of franchise networks has nearly
doubled (+98 %), while the number of stores has gone up 77 % (from 36,773
to more than 65,000).

The poll suggests this is not the end of the line, as 93 % of franchisees believe the future is bright. Four out of ten
envision opening at least ten more stores within the next 12 months; three out of ten are aspiring to
expand abroad within 2 years.

Best of both worlds

The sector remains wary of the threat posed by e-commerce, which
is why franchise formulas are incorporating e-commerce’s strengths into their
own business model in order to get “the best of both worlds”:

• 97 % is using geolocalization for its stores;

• 76 % is integrating social media into their communication channels;

• 43 % is going multichannel (+6 % compared to 2012): 91 % are using web shops,
while 34 % has a smartphone app;

• 87 % is employing ‘Web to Store’ techniques to entice consumers to come
down to the actual stores.

(Translated by Gary Peeters)