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A guide to digital marketing in France

Eiffel Tower
Webcertain Training
by Webcertain Training
 
25 minutes

The French market is sizeable, wealthy and has a decent level of digital maturity, making it very attractive to businesses wanting to expand internationally. This guide will explore how best to approach digital marketing in France. From reading this guide, you will learn the current digital landscape in the country, including internet penetration rates, online trends and behaviours, device usage, and the dominant search engines and social networks. You will also learn about the complexities of language and culture in France and what this means in terms of digital marketing. Finally, you will learn how to approach e-commerce in order to achieve success in France.

Table of contents


Introduction

France is an attractive prospect to many businesses looking to expand internationally, and there are several reasons why.

The first reason is its size: it is a relatively large country, with a sizeable population, which means there will likely be a market for your product.

The appeal of this market only grows stronger when you realise that, according to the International Monetary Fund, France is the seventh-largest economy in the world in terms of GDP, and the third-largest within Europe, after Germany and the UK.

Another reason is its strategic geographical location. With its close proximity to the major economies of Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain, it is well-placed to do business with brands with a physical presence in any of these European powerhouses.

It also has a decent level of digital maturity, with some room for continued growth. As of May 2025, France has a population of around 65 million people. Of these people, around 87% are currently online.

However, it can be challenging to enter a new market. Never fear, this guide is here to shed light on how best to harness the power of digital marketing to succeed in France.

Paris streets from above

The typical French internet user

Let's begin by looking at who exactly the typical internet user is in France.

There is a fairly equal gender split, with 87% of men and 86% of women using the internet.

The table below shows internet usage reach by age group in France. As you can see, there are high levels of internet usage reach (over 90%) across the entire 15 to 74 age group, with this then dropping off over the age of 75:

a table showing internet penetration by age group
Data source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

There is no major urban-rural digital divide in France, with 87.5% of people in urban areas using the internet, along with 84.3% in rural areas.

The typical French internet user spends 5 hours and 23 minutes online every day. So, what are these people doing online? Research by Meltwater and We Are Social found that the top three reasons French users gave for using the internet were: finding information, researching how to do things, and keeping up-to-date with news and events.

Let's briefly turn our attention to some key concerns of French internet users. Online privacy is important to this group. According to recent research, 51% of French internet users decline cookies on websites, 42% worry about how companies might use their online data, 32% use ad blocking tools, and 21% use a VPN to access the internet.

a man using a laptop

Device usage in France

As of April 2025, 63% of internet traffic in France comes from mobile phones, 35% comes from desktop computers, and 2% comes from tablets.

This means that it is extremely important to have a mobile-friendly website to meet the demands of internet users and provide them with a positive user experience when interacting with your brand and website. Mobile-friendliness is also an increasingly crucial ranking factor for search engines, so not optimising your website for mobile will prove detrimental to your organic traffic.

Given the dominance of mobile, it should come as no surprise that apps are popular in France. The popularity of apps presents a big opportunity for brands wanting to target the French market. If you create an app, make sure to localise the language, especially if you are B2C. Make sure your app functions correctly and is valuable for users, otherwise your brand might suffer not only from poor return-on-investment but also negative reviews.

Internet speeds are faster than the global median. As of April 2025, France ranks 4th in the world for fixed broadband speed, with a median speed of 308.01 MB per second. It ranks 22nd for mobile internet speed, with a median speed of 141.72 MB per second.

a woman using a mobile phone

Search engine marketing in France

As of April 2025, Google is the most popular search engine in France, with a market share of 88%. Bing comes in second place with 5%, followed by Yandex with 2%, Yahoo with 2%, Ecosia with 1% and DuckDuckGo with 1%.

Google is therefore the search engine that you must focus your SEO and PPC efforts on. If you want more in-depth information on how to succeed at search marketing on Google, we have this guide to on-page optimisation for Google and this guide to search and display advertising on Google.

We cannot stress enough how vital it is to have a strong presence on Google. Recent research has found that search engines are the number one main channel for online brand research in France, as well as the number one source of brand discovery.

However, be aware that 32% of French internet users use an ad blocking tool. This means you do not want to rely completely on search advertising. Your organic SEO and content marketing efforts must also be given the attention they deserve in order to reach those internet users who have turned on an ad blocker.

Preparing your website for France

Check that your geotargeting is correctly set up for your French website. This will vary depending on how you structure your domains, but you are likely to need hreflang tags correctly implemented to ensure that your France-targeted pages rank above your other country pages.

You should also check your website speed from within France, and if the loading speed is slow, consider hosting your website on a local server. You do not want to go through all the effort of creating, designing and localising your website, just to have those efforts undone by poor loading speeds and high bounce rates as a result.

If you sell products on your website, make sure to display prices in the local currency, use local weights and measurements, and accept local online payment methods.

And finally, make a point of creating and displaying local content, telling stories that are relatable and relevant to the local audience. This also includes the visuals and photos that accompany your written content.

a man using a laptop

Social media marketing in France

Social media is very popular in France. Research by Meltwater and We Are Social found that amongst its sample of French internet users, 80% were social media users. The average internet user spends 1 hour and 48 minutes on social media every day and uses an average of 6 social platforms every month. The most common reasons for using social media are keeping in touch with friends and family, filling spare time, and reading news stories.

So, where are French social media users spending their time? As you can see in the graph below, Facebook is the most popular social platform in France, followed by WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger. All these platforms are used by more than half of all French internet users every month.

a graph showing the most popular social platforms in France
Source: Meltwater and We Are Social

With 80% of French internet users being social media users, it is vitally important for brands to have a social media presence when targeting France. You should use social media to communicate and engage with potential customers, and it is also a useful way of understanding and getting to know your target audience. You should aim to create content that triggers emotions in users by offering real value or a real connection with your brand.

One company that has done this well is AXA. AXA was the first insurance company to offer extensive customer service over social media in France. It offers customer service over Facebook Messenger. Users can ask questions, find their documents, report an accident and manage their contracts, all over Facebook Messenger.

Although you will obviously need to post localised content on your French social media accounts that caters to your audience in the country, your social media strategy will not differ significantly for France compared to how you do it for other countries. For example:

Of course, you do not need to be on every social media platform; you only need to be where your audience is. Research your industry and your audience before entering the market, see what platforms they prefer and prioritise them. Bear in mind that your audience will most likely be present on multiple platforms and interact with you across all of them, but they will not want to see the same things from you on all of them. Your content strategy should take into consideration both who your audience is and where they are interacting with you.

Local social networks

An interesting thing about the French market is that alongside the well-known global social networks, there are local networks too. Some of the main ones are:

two women laughing as they walk down a street in France

The local culture and language in France

Culture

When entering any new market, it is very important to be aware of the local culture and to adapt your marketing collateral appropriately. One way you can examine the French culture is through the lens of Hofstede's cultural dimensions.

a graph showing France's scores for Hofstede's cultural dimensions
Source: The Culture Factor

France has a fairly high score of 68 for power distance. This means that:

France has a fairly high score of 74 for individualism. This means that:

France has a score of 43 for motivation towards achievement and success, placing it around the middle of the spectrum. This means that:

France has a very high score of 86 for uncertainty avoidance. This means that:

France has a fairly high score of 60 for long-term orientation. This means that:

France has a score of 48 for indulgence, placing it around the middle of the spectrum. This means that:

From our experience helping global brands succeed in the French market, we can add that although France is officially a secular country, French culture is still somewhat influenced by religion, particularly Catholicism, Islam and Judaism. There is therefore a great opportunity for relevant brands to target important religious celebrations such as Christmas, Ramadan and Hanukkah.

Sporting events are also not to miss, particularly rugby, the football world cup, Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics, Grand Slam tennis tournament, Tour de France, 24 Heures du Mans, and many others.

There are certain superstitions that exist in French culture, although most people do not take these too seriously. One superstition that is relevant for marketers is the belief that the number 13, and the date Friday the 13th, are unlucky. If you are promoting something in the horror/spooky genre, such as a horror film, horror book or spooky rollercoaster, you may actually find it successful to do releases on the date Friday the 13th, as this will tap into the superstition and be memorable. If you are not in the "horror" industry, however, it is probably best to avoid the number 13 and the date Friday the 13th in your marketing efforts!

traffic in Paris
Language

When targeting France, make sure to create content in the local language, rather than trying to target them using English. The EF English Proficiency Index ranks France as having only "moderate" English proficiency, so any attempt to use English to reach people in France will be quite hit and miss. Furthermore, the French are very proud of their language and trying to target them using English could be considered offensive. Using English will give the impression that you do not really care about the market, since you cannot be bothered to communicate with them in their language, which would give a poor impression of your brand.

The language you should use when targeting France is French. French is a Romance language. It uses the Latin alphabet, is written from left to right and uses the same 26 letters as English, with some letters being written with diacritical marks. It has two grammatical genders (masculine and feminine).

French is spoken in three main geographical areas: Europe, Canada and North Africa. Such a geographical distribution has given rise to different variants of the language, so if you have content on your Belgian, Canadian or North African etc. websites, you cannot just copy this over to your France website; you must make sure to localise it for France first.

The differences between the French used in France versus other French-speaking countries such as Canada are comparable to the ones you find between American English and British English. They are not completely different languages, but they are recognisably distinct. Even in France, depending on the region, words can have different meanings.

Let's look at some examples. Did you have breakfast this morning? No? Do you want a "pain au chocolat"? If you are in the south-west of France, or Canada, especially Quebec, you will get:

chocolate stuck in a piece of bread

If you are anywhere else in France, you will get:

a pain au chocolat

This is called a "chocolatine" in the south of France. There is a real debate in France about how to name these Viennese croissants containing chocolate.

Now let's imagine you are at a restaurant and you want an ice cream. In France, you will ask for "de la glace", but if you ask for the same thing in Quebec, you will get... some ice! Not quite what you wanted for pudding, is it?

Another complexity of the French language is that it has various diacritical marks (à â ç é è ë ê ï î ô ù ü û). These diacritical marks are very important, not only because they show how the word should be pronounced, but also because they can change the meaning of the word itself. Let's look again at an example. You might want to complain that your meal is not salty enough. The translation for "salty" in French is "salé". If you forget the diacritical mark, the word becomes "dirty". You would then be saying that your meal is not dirty enough. Imagine how devastating a similar mistake could be on your marketing campaign!

Punctuation is another complexity of the French language. The punctuation rules in French are different from many other languages. Again, let's look at an example. On your contact page, you may offer different ways for your customers to interact with you:

In English:

In French:

Did you spot the difference? In the French version, there was a space before and after the colon and question mark. There must also be a space before and after: ; ! % « ». Although nowadays many people make the mistake of not using a space, especially in digital support, it is strongly recommended to follow the rule as it will show that your brand has a strong attention to detail and respect for the language. Bear in mind that this punctuation rule only applies to the French used in France. In Canadian French, the same rules as English apply.

Another complexity is gender. The French language has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. As there is no neutral gender, this means that objects have a gender. For example, "table" in French is "une table", which is feminine. However, "desk", "un bureau" in French, is masculine. You may wonder how it is possible to know if an object is masculine or feminine. Unfortunately, the only solution is to learn all the cases by heart!

Given all these complexities, translation, localisation and copywriting should always be done by a professional native French speaker. Only a native will have a proper grasp of the local linguistic and cultural nuances and be able to create content that will truly resonate with your local French audience.

Be aware that people in France will think poorly of you if you have mistakes in your written French content. If your content contains linguistic errors or if a translation does not make sense, your brand image could be damaged, with the poor-quality content gaining you a reputation as an unprofessional company.

You should also be aware that the French language is on average 15% to 20% longer than English. This is because the words tend to be longer, and also, to express the same idea, you often need to use more words in French compared to English. Therefore, be prepared to provide guidance on character limits and the space available for content on your webpage, and be conscious of how this can have an impact on things like your calls-to-action and product descriptions.

Speaking of calls-to-action, do not directly translate your calls-to-action from English, as a direct translation is unlikely to resonate and work well in France. Instead, do some research to find out which calls-to-action are commonly used online in France in your sector. As a general rule, your calls-to-action in France will need to be less direct than in other markets. Direct calls-to-action like "buy now" or "download" can be considered rude. Instead, more indirect calls-to-action like "learn more" or "hurry" (if a sale is ending soon) which are not so bossy tend to be more successful in France. It is best practice to keep your calls-to-action short, i.e. a few words maximum, and to use a verb. And, of course, these need to be written in the French language.

Another area of digital marketing that is impacted by the French language is dynamic keyword insertion. French does not always take dynamic keyword insertion kindly, due to grammatical gender issues. Dynamic keyword insertion puts you at risk of producing copy that is faulty and off-putting. If you must use dynamic keyword insertion, make sure to use several templates to adapt to as many cases as possible and limit errors.

It is also important to think about your keywords. Keywords should never be translated; instead, you should always conduct local keyword research. This is because a translation will probably not produce keywords that have the most impact in the target market. Only fresh keyword research conducted by a native speaker will reveal the best keywords to target. The video below explains in six minutes why you should never translate keywords:

When it comes to targeting keywords in your PPC campaigns, you might have a bit of doubt when it comes to diacritical marks, of which French has a few (à â ç é è ë ê ï î ô ù ü û). Of course, when it comes to your content, you should always use them and make sure they are used correctly. But when deciding which keywords to target in your paid advertising campaigns, you may want to target keywords in their diacritic and non-diacritic forms. Many times, French-speaking users will make their search queries without any diacritical marks just to save time, so if you do not target these keywords, you might be losing some valuable search volume.

a woman using a mobile phone

E-commerce in France

E-commerce is popular, although it still has plenty of growth ahead of it. 53% of people in France have made a purchase using a mobile phone or the internet in the past year. The B2C e-commerce market in France is worth the equivalent of USD 66 billion annually. The average French B2C shopper spends the equivalent of USD 2,190 online per year.

So, what are people in France buying online? The consumer goods categories with the highest annual spend are fashion, electronics and food.

The main drivers of online purchases are key indicators as to what French users value most when making their online purchasing decisions, giving you an opportunity to understand what is best to highlight in your marketing collateral and calls-to-action, so that you can convert leads into customers. Free delivery is the top driver of online purchasing behaviour in France, with 63% saying this would encourage them to buy. This is followed by coupons and discounts with 41% and loyalty points with 40%.

Looking at e-commerce payment methods, digital wallets are the most popular option, accounting for 34% of online purchases. Debit and prepaid cards come in second place, accounting for 26% of online purchases, followed by credit cards (21%) and account-to-account payments (11%). The remaining 8% is split between buy now pay later and cash-on-delivery. It would therefore be wise to offer multiple payment options when targeting the French market – particularly digital wallets, debit and prepaid cards, and credit cards – since all these have significant popularity in France. The most popular digital wallets in France are Apple Pay, Google Wallet and PayPal.

Another important thing to remember is to ensure you are selling in the correct currency: euros (€ or EUR). This may sound obvious, but you would be surprised how many businesses see poor results simply because they have neglected to localise the currency on their website. Prices in France have to include VAT for B2C sales, and can be displayed with or without VAT for B2B sales. It is more common to display prices without VAT in B2B. However, you need to make it clear if your prices exclude VAT. Price is important for French consumers, and offering discounts is a very effective way to drive sales. Related to this, brand loyalty is fairly low, so consumers are open to switching between brands (e.g. if the price is better), so long as they are familiar with the brand.

When creating your price labels, be aware that France is one of the countries that uses the comma as a decimal separator, and not the point. Furthermore, the comma is not used as a thousand separator; instead, groups of digits are typically separated by a space. This is different from how numbers are written in English-speaking countries. The bullet points below illustrate this by demonstrating how to write one hundred thousand pounds/euros. When targeting France, make sure that your prices follow the French standard, to ensure clarity.

Here are some additional tips to boost sales on your website in France:

Alternatively, you could sell your products on an e-commerce marketplace. The most popular e-commerce marketplace in France is Amazon. Leboncoin comes in second place, followed by Temu, AliExpress and Cdiscount. If you want to sell your items on an online marketplace, Amazon should therefore be your first choice when targeting France.

Once you have sold a product, you still need to get it to the customer. The most popular delivery method for items bought online is home delivery, followed by collection from a parcel pick-up point. Make sure you offer these delivery methods (if applicable). The public postal service in France is fast and reliable, although it can frequently be affected by strikes. You can also use private delivery companies to dispatch your items.

Be aware that there are seasonal fluctuations in the French e-commerce calendar, when people are more likely to buy. There are several important events around which online sales increase in France: Valentine's Day, Mother's Day (which takes place on the last Sunday in May), Father's Day (the second-to-last Sunday in June) and Christmas. There are also seasonal sales ("les soldes") which last for around a month and take place starting in early January and again from late June. Make sure you tap into this seasonality when selling your products and coming up with your marketing materials.

a man using a laptop

Conclusion

The French market is one that is both sizeable and has a decent level of digital maturity, as well as being one of the wealthiest markets in Europe. It is a strong and established market that rightfully draws the attention of many global brands. We hope this guide has given you a good starting point from which to build your French success story. If you localise your strategy effectively, your digital marketing and business expansion efforts in the country have the potential to go far. Good luck!

To learn more about digital marketing in France, click here.

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