French shoppers have embraced multichannel. Image credit: Matches Fashion
Mobile shopping is on the rise in France, with the amount of millennials purchasing luxury goods through their mobile devices doubling over the last six months.
The channel has continued to be one of the biggest shake-ups in the way consumers shop today, and that trend holds true for young French consumers as well. According to a study from Matchesfashion.com and the IFM Index, the percentage of French millennials shopping for luxury goods through mobile jumped from 23 percent to 40 percent since April.
Mobile revolution
Today’s consumers shop in completely different ways than their predecessors from only a few years ago.
Where once mobile was nonexistent, it is now a primary force in the retail world and something that should be on every luxury brand’s mind going forward.
To properly gauge how mobile and online shopping have been affecting luxury shopping in France, Matchesfashion.com created a survey to look into how French consumers, especially millennials, are shopping today.
What the survey shows is that French customers have fully embraced the multichannel approach to shopping.
Online shopping is huge in France. Image credit: Matches Fashion
Seventy-six percent of French luxury shoppers have purchased goods online and more than a third of those do so regularly.
Additionally, 90 percent of customers use the Internet for every purchase in some capacity, either to make the purchase or to research before buying in-store.
Over the past six months, French consumers were just as likely to buy something online as they were in-person, a huge step up from just earlier this year.
The ability for consumers to quickly browse through large amounts of products online has led to a resurgence in multibrand stores and sites in France, according to the report.
Multichannel is here
Compared to earlier this year, the number of French online luxury shoppers has grown significantly.
In April, the IFM surveyed a large number of French luxury consumers to gauge exactly how much online shopping they do and what proportion of their shopping is done online.
What they found was that 45 percent of French shoppers had purchased a luxury good online in the last year (see story).
French customers are increasingly gravitating towards mobile. Image credit: Matchesfashion
While digital is a vital aspect of retail, in-store associates are not useless and are proving to be an essential part of the customer experience, according to consumers.
A report from Astound Commerce shows that 52 percent of consumers think it is vital for store associates to be able to place an order and 46 percent believe they should have access to inventory information. However, online shoppers are having extremely positive experiences as well, with 86 percent claiming their customer service interactions were great, and 42 percent saying excellent (see story).
As the appetite for omnichannel shopping among French luxury consumers grows, brands will have to adapt to accommodate their changing desires.