Paris eCommerce Expo 2010

Wow! The estimation of 30000 Visitors could be right: it’s crowded – and it’s huge! It seems the French are vraiment entering the eCommerce space now. In terms of visitors, this is the biggest eCommerce show in Europe.

Though some international companies – like us 😉 – are present, local players are clearly in the majority. Some proudly announce their French origin, however, many have international ambitions. And some are already successful internationally: I had a short talk with Corinne Lejbowicz, the CEO of LeGuide.com, she says international expansion is running very well. Their stand also says (in English!) “No. 1 in France. Already No. 2 in Europe”. And Prestashop, an eCommerce Platform for smaller shops, boosts 40000 online shops operated with their shop system – 28000 of them outside France.

Also, there seems to be a hype of mCommerce, I saw dozens of small stands displaying something with an iPhone, mostly individual development. Time will show if this is going to last, as I expect eCommerce and mCommerce to merge, and mCommerce to become less “magic” and more standardized. But for now, it seems good business.

We held a presentation at the conference together with our customer plantes-et-jardins.com, which was very well received. Interestingly, the questions afterward were mainly about internationality, which we could answer well, as FACT-Finder is currently running live in 27 languages. Other conference topics covered the usual: SEO,  e-Mail marketing, … mCommerce ;-)… Maybe a bit more logistics than at other conferences.

The evening party with more than 1000 “VIP” participants was very nice, with a violin player improvising alongside danceable pop music – a great idea! I often do this with my piano at home but have never seen it neither in public nor with a violin. And she was very good! Music vs. networking? No problem here: The music was only loud around the dance floor, and everywhere else you could talk without shouting.

In total: Paris is worth the trip. See you next year, enchanté! 🙂

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Visit also our FACT-Finder.com (English) or FACT-Finder.fr (French).