Northern France leads the field in Europe in distance selling, which includes both traditional mail order and more recent developments such as internet sales.
Mail-order sales began in the early 20th century, and La Redoute brought out its first catalog in 1928. In 1967, retail giant Auchan opened its headquarters in Roubaix. Today we lead the field in e-business.
Leading positions in commerce and related areas include :
- No. 3 in France for financial services
- No. 2 in France for insurance
- No. 1 in France for retail sales, a sector employing more than 70,000. The head offices of some of France’s largest retailers are in Northern France, including Auchan (hypermarkets), Castorama and Leroy Merlin (do-it-yourself supplies), Décathlon (sporting goods), Norauto (car accessories), Nocibé (cosmetics and perfumes), and Camaïeu, Promod and Jules (fashion).
- Europe’s no. 1 region for distance sales operations
Northern France is home to a full 80% of all companies and 70% of all employees in distance selling in France.
Leading names include generalists Redcats-La Redoute, Les Trois Suisses and Quelle; Afibel, Damart, Daxon and Vert Baudet (clothing and fashion); La Blanche Porte and Becque (household linens); Willemse (seeds and gardening supplies); and Conrad (electronic goods).
Today e-commerce makes a major contribution to these companies’ revenues, backed by skills and support services covering every aspect of this fast-moving industry, from logistics to development of multimedia products marketing, sales, call centers and IT engineering-all areas where Northern France is a leading French region..
E-commerce specialists can draw on a pool of regional expertise in direct and distance sales, from client database management to identification and sorting of entries, communications, marketing and more. Years of experience in traditional mail-order operations have facilitated moves into e-commerce, allowing companies to tap the extraordinary potential of the internet.
Major distance sales companies have also set up direct marketing teams to serve external clients - Régilist for Les Trois Suisses, Médiacible for La Redoute and Profils for Quelle. Services include consultancies specializing in analysis of client profiles and market segmentation, database rental, hosting, packaging, sample preparation, partnerships, production of mailshot content and other advertising, supply of envelopes, distribution, performance measurement and more. The same services can be outsourced from other companies based in the region, including Bertelsmann.
ESC Lille
This top-ranked business school offers a post-graduate degree "Mastère Spécialisé" in Direct Marketing and E-commerce - the leading program of its type in France, providing training in e-marketing for customer relationship management.
The program is open to both students and professionals. Graduates work as e-business consultants, internet project managers, webmarketers, and heads of direct marketing. Courses make use of MD-LAB, the European laboratory for direct marketing and e-commerce.
IEMD (European Institute of Direct Marketing)
IEMD runs a unique post-graduate degree program "Magistère" in Direct Marketing and Distance Sales that sharpens skills for a wide range of positions of responsibility in direct marketing, marketing and sales. Management and administration basics are an integral part of the course.
In 1988, IEMD set up a specialized diploma in Direct Marketing and E-Commerce in conjunction with IAE in Lille. The program is designed to meet the needs of companies already in direct marketing or interested in including it in their development strategies.
Course content includes strategic issues in direct marketing, customer behavior and loyalty, design and development of e-commerce websites, databases, geomarketing, logistics, strategy and legal issues, and international direct marketing.
SSBD is a special program in statistics, databases and data mining, set up jointly by IEMD and IAE in Lille. Content is designed to meet the needs of companies keen to identify and target specific client profiles, generate forecasts, and optimize direct marketing campaigns.
The program includes classes in database management and statistics, data analysis, client profiles, testing methods, direct marketing forecasts, and flow/process analysis.
At the USTL-Lille University of Science and Technology, a post-graduate diploma in e-commerce applications for multimedia and the internet (DESS MICE) trains future project managers specializing in technology and design of service offerings and e-commerce.
Graduates are hired by companies distributing products and services over the internet, or by businesses supplying software and services for e-commerce; this includes both technical support and business solutions (IT service providers, producers of specialized software, operators of telecommunications services and high value-added networks, consultants, etc.).
