An e-commerce retailer selling phone cases for five years on PrestaShop sees its conversion rate stagnate despite stable traffic. Its direct competitor has added a monthly protection subscription to its product catalog. The result: an increase in average cart value and recurring revenue. This shift illustrates what is happening in the online retail market in 2024: growth levers are no longer where they were expected.
In France, the services sector now dominates e-commerce, with an annual growth of around 12% and over 60% of the total online retail revenue according to the 2024 report from FEVAD. Physical products are progressing at a much slower rate. For a merchant site, ignoring this shift is like optimizing an engine whose fuel is changing.
Hybridizing products and services on your online store
The most underestimated trend is not technological. It concerns the business model itself. Stores that add a layer of services to their product catalog capture value that a one-time purchase does not allow.
Specifically, we are talking about subscriptions (refills, consumables delivered each month), training related to the product sold, paid extended warranties, or premium content reserved for customers. A sports equipment site can sell a personalized training program in addition to equipment. A cosmetics store can offer a recurring skin diagnosis via video.
Adding a recurring service to a product catalog stabilizes revenue between two seasonal peaks. It is also a stronger loyalty lever than a traditional points program. FEVAD data confirms that services are growing about twice as fast as physical products in the French market, validating the direction. To delve deeper into online sales mechanics adapted to this shift, the resources available on info-commerce.fr detail several concrete configurations by sector.
Cross-border e-commerce: selling beyond France without heavy logistics
It is often thought that online export requires a warehouse abroad and an army of translators. The on-the-ground reality is more nuanced. European marketplaces allow testing a neighboring market (Belgium, Spain, Germany) with centralized stock in France and controlled shipping costs.
Cross-border represents a structuring growth axis. The European e-commerce market exceeds $1 trillion in revenue, and the penetration of cross-border commerce is accelerating, driven by players like Temu and Shein who are getting consumers used to buying outside their borders.
For a PrestaShop site or equivalent, the operational steps look like this:
- Translate priority product sheets (the 20% of the catalog that generates 80% of the revenue) into one or two target languages, with local SEO adaptation and not just literal translation.
- Activate local payment methods (iDEAL in the Netherlands, Bancontact in Belgium) to reduce cart abandonment related to payment.
- Test demand via a local marketplace before investing in a dedicated site by country.
The entry cost to a neighboring European market has decreased thanks to shared logistics solutions. Returns vary on this point depending on the type of product and the targeted country, but the financial risk of a test remains limited compared to the potential.
European directive on environmental claims and impact on e-commerce marketing
On the regulatory side, a concrete change is coming with the EMPCO directive (Empowering Consumers, EU 2024/825). It regulates environmental claims in commerce, including online. Mentions such as “eco-friendly,” “carbon neutral,” or “green product” without verifiable proof become sanctionable.
For an e-commerce retailer, this means that product sheets and category pages must be audited before the application date. Marketing texts, badges, and self-awarded labels are under scrutiny. This is not just a cosmetic adjustment: the entire content and product SEO strategy can be affected if descriptions rely on greenwashing, even unintentionally.
Concrete actions to take on your site:
- List all environmental claims present on product sheets, banners, and active marketing campaigns.
- Check if each claim is based on third-party certification or measurable data. Remove those that do not hold up.
- Replace vague formulations with factual descriptions (composition, origin, manufacturing process) that reinforce customer trust without legal risk.
This cleanup has a positive side effect: precise and factual product descriptions improve the conversion rate. Users trust a detailed technical sheet more than an “eco” badge without explanation.
AI personalization and user experience on social media
Artificial intelligence applied to online commerce is not limited to chatbots. On the ground, the usage that generates the most measurable results is contextualized product recommendation: suggestions based on real-time browsing behavior, not just purchase history.
A site that displays “customers who bought X also bought Y” applies a logic that is twenty years old. Current tools go further by cross-referencing the current session (pages viewed, time spent, scroll) with external data (local weather, search trends). The gain on the conversion rate depends on the sector, but the direction is clear: the closer the recommendation aligns with immediate intent, the higher the cart value.
On the social media side, conversational commerce via Instagram or TikTok Shop is changing the customer journey. The purchase is triggered within the content flow, without going through the merchant site. For an online store, this requires producing short video content designed for direct conversion, not just for brand awareness. Product storytelling in vertical format of less than 30 seconds, with an integrated purchase link, becomes a full-fledged sales channel.
The online retail market in 2024 rewards sites that combine a hybrid business model (products and services), a controlled openness to cross-border, and anticipated regulatory compliance. AI tools and social media amplify these fundamentals but do not replace them. The next action to take is often the simplest: auditing what already exists on your site before stacking new features.