Selling online: 16% of small French businesses do it

Online commerce is often talked about as a given. For mid-sized French businesses, the figures say something else: a small minority sells online, and for those that do, the channel stays far behind traditional sales. This is neither a fate nor a shameful delay, but it changes how to approach a store: as a channel built step by step, not as a shop window opened in the hope that orders will follow.

What the figures count

Eurostat surveys European businesses with 10 or more people every year. Its isoc_ec_esels database measures the share of businesses that sell online, whether through the web (their website, an app, a marketplace) or through electronic data interchange, orders passed directly from one company’s software to another’s.

Size more than doubles the share in France. Above 50 people, France even does better than the EU average for that band (31.7%); it falls behind below it. Across all sizes, 19.4% of French businesses sell online, against 23.6% in the EU, 31.8% in Belgium and 25.5% in Estonia. Luxembourg, at 14.7%, does worse than France: the small country is not always the most digital.

A channel that weighs little in turnover

Selling online does not say how much is sold there. The isoc_ec_evals database answers that second question: it counts the share of turnover of all businesses in the band, online sellers or not, made online. Amounts in principle refer to the calendar year before the survey.

These figures include electronic data interchange, which weighs heavily in large industrial firms. Keeping only the web, online sales represent 4.0% of the turnover of French businesses across all sizes, against 8.4% in the EU. For a French business with 10 to 49 people, online sales are a complement, rarely the core of the business.

The France Num 2026 barometer, a public programme of the French ministry for the economy (DGE), adds nuance on a different sample: 9,655 businesses with fewer than 250 employees, mostly very small ones. According to its presentation article, 46% of these small businesses get at least 5% of their customers from the internet, and 17% make more than half their turnover online. The internet brings customers to almost one business in two, even when the order is closed elsewhere.

Why the channel stays marginal

Statistics do not give reasons; experience suggests a few, to be taken as hypotheses to check in your own business.

• The product does not sell in one click. A configured machine, a service on quotation, a recurring order at a negotiated price: many businesses of 20 to 500 people sell things that go through a conversation.
• Customers already order another way. By phone, by email, through a sales rep. A store that ignores these habits sits empty while orders keep arriving as before.
• Product data is not ready. Incomplete references, missing photos, prices living in a spreadsheet: a store exposes these flaws.
• Running costs are underestimated. A store needs updates, support and logistics, not just a launch.

Where to start

Across the EU, 17.7% of businesses with 10 or more people sell through their own website or app, against 9.3% through marketplaces, according to the same isoc_ec_esels database. The two are not exclusive, and the order matters.

1. 01Start from existing customers.

   An ordering area for those who already order by email or phone, with their prices and terms, pays back faster than a store open to everyone.

2. 02Pick a narrow scope.

   Simple products, with stable prices, that need no advice. The rest stays on quotation.

3. 03Put the data in order.

   References, attributes, photos, stock, in a single place that feeds the store.

4. 04Measure before buying traffic.

   How many orders, what basket, what handling cost, before paying to attract new visitors.

5. 05Add visibility channels.

   Google Shopping, a marketplace, advertising, once the store can handle the orders it gets.

The first step has its own guide: B2B stores with pricing, quotes and reorders cover the most frequent case among businesses of our size range. Choosing the tool comes next, and depends on volume and how much is custom: Shopify or Medusa compares the two approaches. Once the store holds, Google Shopping and marketplaces widen the audience without starting over, and selling on Amazon alongside your store details what that channel costs. To build the store itself, our ecommerce offer follows the same order: data, orders, then acquisition.

What the gap with neighbours teaches

Belgium, with 29.0% of small businesses selling online, shows that a higher rate is possible in a similar economy. Nothing says a business has to catch up with an average, though: a company whose customers want to talk to someone before buying is right not to force a store. The costly mistake is the opposite one: opening a full store on principle, without clean data or identified customers, then concluding that online sales “don’t work for us”.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Eurostat, isoc_ec_esels database (business e-sales), extracted on 14/10/2026 (new tab)ec.europa.eu
2. Eurostat, isoc_ec_evals database (e-sales turnover), extracted on 14/10/2026 (new tab)ec.europa.eu
3. Service-public.gouv.fr, France Num 2026 barometer (new tab)entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr