The shares of digital buyers purchasing with a tablet or smartphone was also up sharply from 2015, to 56% in each case. Penetration of tablet buying was 12% higher than in 2015, and smartphone buying had jumped 15%.
One in three internet users made at least one digital purchase per week, on average, the study revealed. In other developed ecommerce markets surveyed by PwC, the average was 28%.
A third of digital buyers in France used a mobile device to search for products, and 26% used one to compare prices. More than one in five digital buyers read product reviews on a mobile phone or tablet, accessed a coupon, checked in to a loyalty programme or received an email alerting them to collect a product.
France also posted significantly higher engagement with multichannel retail than most other countries surveyed. According to PwC, 85% of retailers in France generated revenues from multichannel operations, compared with 71% of merchants in other European countries.
21% of digital retailers’ omnichannel customers had bought via mobile, 41% of digital buyers ages 25 to 34 said their smartphone would become their primary purchasing device in the future, and 67% of retailers said their top priority was accelerating revenue growth from mobile and online channels.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now