1. The E-Merchant
Profile
Oxatis Survey 01/2009
Marc SCHILLACI
Oxatis Founder and Chief
Executive Officer

2. Objectives and Methodology
Context
In a booming market, e-commerce is still relatively misunderstood when it comes to those playing a role in its
development. A significant amount of visibility is gained through national or international corporations and
through amateurs selling in online marketplaces. However, this takes the limelight off of the main players in this
underdeveloped sector: only 2% of French companies sell online!
It is the 2 million French SOHOs and SMBs that are taking center stage with a large number of sites, a high level
of diversity and numerous commercial skills.
Objective
For the second year in a row, Oxatis conducted this study to battle against some common misconceptions by
unmasking the true portrait of e-commerce professionals – not the multinational corporations or amateur sellers.
Conclusion
All entrepreneurs, no matter their profile, can reap the benefits of e-commerce.
Economical, efficient and simple methods are available for opening an online shop.
There is a plethora of opportunities for boosting sales or creating a business activity.
E-commerce is a major lever for economic development, including that of rural areas.
Methodology
conducted from 10 January to 17 January 2009
by email, with 2,500 Oxatis site managers
303 surveys were completed correctly, collected and analyzed

3. WHO IS SELLING ON THE
INTERNET?

4. ID Card
E-merchants are not youngsters! The
under-25-year-olds are under-
represented
A strong majority of forty-year-olds
7% more women than men in the 25-34
year-old range
7% less women than men in the 50-65
Age M+W Men Women
year-old range
- 25 3% 3% 2%
25 to 34 21% 18% 25%
More women than all company
35 to 49 51% 51% 51% managers put together.
50 to 65 25% 28% 21%
+ 65 0% 1% 0% 17% are single
Total 100% 59% 41% 81% are married, PACS-ed, or
cohabitating
79% have children

5. Where E-Merchants Live
32%
40%
29%
30%
20%
20%
9% 8%
10%
0%
Rural area Small city - Medium-sized city Large city Paris and its
population 10,000 population population Suburbs
10,000 to 100,000 > 100,000
Whereas 2/3 people in France live in urban areas…
53% of e-merchants live in towns with a population of less than 10,000 (32% of which live in
rural areas)
Only 16% live in and around Paris and cities with a population of more than 100,000.
E-commerce, an opportunity to revitalize rural areas?
A lot of people are taking advantage of being able to work in pleasant surroundings without
having to offer physical services or work irregular hours.

6. “Pure Players” or Merchants
Is your activity exclusively online?
70% say No, 30% Yes
Women are more “pure player” than men:
37% of women e-merchants devote
themselves entirely to e-commerce
Whereas only 25% of men conduct all business
through their online shop
30% of pure players over-all, but
32% in rural areas
43 % in Paris and surrounding areas,
versus 22 to 25% in urban areas.
E-commerce is an opportunity for merchants, not a
threat

7. Education Level
Education Level M+W Men Women
E-merchants have a higher than
> Bac +3 27% 26% 28% average level of education compared
with the rest of the population.
Bac +3 12% 9% 16%
E-merchants have more degrees than
Bac/Bac +2 35% 34% 37%
the average person.
CAP/BEP 17% 21% 11%
Not a Graduate 9% 9% 9%
37%
40%
34%
76 %
35%
28%
30% 26%
21%
25%
of e-merchants have attained a
Men
20% 16%
Bac++
Women
15% 11%
9% 9% 9%
10%
5%
0%
Bac + 3 Bac +3 Bac/Bac +2 CAP/BEP Not a
Graduate

8. Number of Employees
Number of Employees
0 employees 56%
1 employee 14%
2 to 5 employees 18%
More than 6 employees 1%
70% don’t have employees or employ only one person.
This figure climbs to 83% for pure players.
18% have 2 to 5 employees.
Less than 1% have more than 5 employees.
There are no significant differences between men and women.

9. GETTING STARTED,
GETTING ORGANISED

10. Buying Online
2% never buy online
25% rarely buy online
50% every month
22% once a week
98% of those surveyed are online buyers
versus 73% of Internet users.
When asked: “Do you purchase more
frequently online since you’ve become
an e-merchant?”
33% say yes
2/3 say no, they already purchased a
maximum online

11. Motivation
What motivational factors prompted
you to launch your site?
57% wanted to create their own
business/company (60% when it
comes to women)
53% wanted to increase their
sales figure
46% wanted to be able to operate
their business 24/7
22% wanted to develop customer
loyalty
19% wanted supplement income

12. Did you already have a site?
51 % didn’t have a site
19 % had an e-commerce site that they built on
their own
13 % had a personal home page or a blog
16 % had a brochure site
4 % had an e-commerce site created by a web
agency
Only 23 % of e-merchants already had an e-
commerce site, which proves market
immaturity.
But, 49 % already had an e-commerce site, blog
or brochure site and had already had first-hand
experience with the Internet channel.
51 % jumped directly into e-commerce with no
experience. E-commerce platforms allow them
to do so with no prior technical knowledge.

13. Visibility Tools
Using marketing tools is considered to be vital for all E-
merchants.
69% work on natural search engine optimization
52% use Google AdWords keyword campaigns
15% use Yahoo Search Marketing
7% hire an outside agency to work on their visibility
However, the concepts remain somewhat unclear, and simple
procedures, such as Google Sitemaps, are little used.
The tendency to use marketing tools has little connection with
the person’s education level.
52% use AdWords,
55% of non-graduates or those with a CAP-BEP use
marketing tools

14. Blogs
40% read blogs
15% have a blog
80% of the time, the blog is related to
their e-commerce.
Women…
Read blogs more than men (46%/36%)
Write blogs more than men (19%/12%)
The younger the e-merchant, the more
they blog!

15. Social Networks
50% use social networks.
•
– Women more than men (54%/47%)
– Young people more than their older
counterparts
Networks Used
•
– 29% Copains d’avant
– 28% Facebook
– 14% Viadeo
– 7% other platforms

16. SATISFACTION REPORT

17. Time it took to create your site*
20% took less than 15 days
48% less than a month
70% took less than 2 months to create
their site
Women take a little longer to create their
sites: 51% of men took less than a month
to create their site versus 43% of
women.
You might deduce that they are more at
ease with the process, but the questions
asked through Oxatis technical support
allow us to conclude that they are less
demanding.
*from the 90% of sites used in the study
that created their site themselves

18. What do you like about e-commerce ?
Both Men Women
Flexible hours 62% 59% 67%
Working at home 59% 57% 62%
Being my own boss 53% 48% 60%
Earning a substantial income 33% 35% 30%
Making a living doing what I love 31% 31% 31%

19. Percentage of Business Activity Online
When asked: “If you have a bricks and More than 50%
mortar shop, what percentage of sales 30% to 50%
do you do online?” 20% to 30%
15% to 20%
26% of e-merchants do less than 10% to 15%
10% of their sales online. 5% to 10%
More than half of online sellers 1% to 5%
make more than 15% of their sales Online Sales /
figure online. Total Sales
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
For 16% of them, e-commerce is
their principal activity (more than
50%) Online Sales / Total Sales
1% to 5% 26%
5% to 10% 17%
10% to 15% 10%
15% to 20% 6%
20% to 30% 12%
30% to 50% 13%
More than 50% 16%
100%

20. Rise in Sales
When asked: “How have sales
progressed in the last 6 months?”
13% of those surveyed had more
than a 50% increase in sales!
40% had sales increase by more
than 20%.
62% of e-merchants had more than
a 10% rise in their sales. Increase in sales figure over the
last 6 months
0% 17%
Only 17% had no rise in their sales
1 to 5% 9%
figure.
5% to 10% 13%
10% to 15% 12%
15% to 20% 10%
20% to 30% 12%
30% to 50% 15%
More than 50% 13%

21. Conclusion
This study, based on 5,000 Oxatis merchant sites, has revealed and specified the TRUE e-
merchant profile:
They are not online superstores,
They are not amateurs selling products in online marketplaces,
They are not 25-year old fanatics,
They ARE mature, professional merchants, a large proportion being women,
They are all trying to choose ideal work conditions.
We were also able to determine that e-commerce:
Strengthens bricks and mortar businesses
Is a factor helping to revitalize rural areas.
Lastly, we were able to understand that supplying e-commerce website creation platforms
provides everyone with a real chance to start up their business
for a moderate investment,
with rapid success,
and no matter what the e-merchant’s education level is.
E-commerce is an opportunity for France, and we’ll take advantage of it by informing, helping
and encouraging the 98% of SoHos and SMBs that aren’t yet selling online.