Credit card usage is low in France due to aversion to debt among French consumers, stringent credit card issuance guidelines, and the availability of private-label cards, which unlike bank-issued credit cards carry less stringent qualification requirements. Private-label card issuers collaborate with supermarkets, car repair workshops, and retailers of digital content to issue co-branded private-label cards.
French e-commerce market is highly developed, ranking as the fifth-largest globally in terms of spending behind China, the US, the UK, and Japan. The e-commerce market posted a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 13% between 2013 and 2017 as consumers became increasingly comfortable shopping online. French consumers use their payment cards heavily online, driven by comfort, convenience, and security.
French payments market is mature and highly competitive, registering the highest turnover per card for 2017 among peers including the UK, the US, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Canada. Average annual spend per card is also the highest in France. Debit and charge are the most popular types of cards, while credit card usage is low due to the debt-averse nature of French consumers. Many are still heavy users of cash, but those who do possess cards – particularly debit and deferred debit cards – use them frequently at the POS.
France has a highly developed POS infrastructure, with a large number of POS terminals overall as well as a large proportion of contactless-compatible terminals, driven in part by the French government’s efforts. A typical feature of France’s payment card market is the availability of multi-functional cards, whereby a single payment card is integrated with more than one function, providing access to several accounts via one card. The most popular combination is debit and credit facilities.
The report “Payments in France 2017: What Consumers Want”, examines the consumer payments market in France, considering payment cards, online payments, P2P payments, and newer payment technologies such as mobile wallets and contactless. The report also examines the main regulatory players overseeing the market.
Specifically, this report –
- Analyzes consumer attitudes to financial services by lifestage.
- Analyzes the major payment card types in terms of both card holding and usage.
- Identifies the major competitors in card issuing and how their position in the market has changed over the last five years.
- Considers consumer attitudes towards P2P tools, mobile payment tools, and contactless cards, and how companies in France are deploying these tools to meet customer needs.
- Explores the online payment market in France by merchant type and payment tool, as well as providing a five-year forecast for the development of the market.
Companies mentioned in this report: Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, Société Générale, Crédit du Nord, La Banque Postale, Groupe BPCE, Oney Bank, BNP Paribas, CB, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club, JCB, UnionPay International.
Scope
- The French debit card market is ruled by CB, a national interbank network that only operates in France. It accounts for 100% of debit cards in circulation, with 50.8 million cards in issue as of 2017.
- In December 2016 the government introduced a regulation placing restrictions on the ways in which cash and prepaid cards can be used in order to curb the financing of terrorism, which has affected prepaid cards in France.
- Until mid-2016, all domestic transactions were processed through CB. However, directives passed by the European Commission in June 2016 now allow merchants to route payment cards through their preferred network. This offers international players such as Mastercard and Visa the opportunity to gradually penetrate the French debit card market.
Reasons to buy
- Understand the key facts and figures in the consumer payments market in France.
- Learn what trends drive consumer behavior at the macro level and plan your strategy accordingly.
- Find out what products the major competitors are launching in the market.
- Discover consumer sentiments towards various payment tools in the French market and use this knowledge to inform product design.