Creating your own e-shop : a business opportunity or a headache?

“According to McKinsey, the Covid-19 crisis accelerated the digitalisation of businesses by about seven years.”
This sentence, written and repeated countless times over the past two years, is a reality that surely prompted many business leaders to reflect on the digital state of their own operations.

While it may seem obvious today that every multi-brand store in France has an e-commerce site, this is still not the case and for most, it has been a nightmare.
We went to meet these fashion-enthusiast business owners to understand how their digital transformation unfolded.

In Provins, at Carol’yne and John, a women’s ready-to-wear store, Séverine Morvan is moving forward slowly but surely.
She shared with us her hesitations and questions about the best approach to take.
Very organised in managing her social media, she knew she had to take the plunge and ultimately decided to delegate this to a specialised company.

“During the first lockdown, I started looking into how to create a website on WordPress, but it was too complicated I didn’t feel ready to launch,” explains Séverine Morvan. “Eventually, during the second lockdown, we reached out to a specialised agency, but the issue of stock remained.
Should the stock be dedicated to the website or the same as the store ?”

Indeed, stock management is crucial, and it’s often not easy to decide, especially as it raises many other operational challenges.

Séverine explains: “I tend to prefer having dedicated stock, whereas others prefer to put everything together.
But putting everything together is a massive job.
You need three photos, materials info, descriptions it takes an enormous amount of time. Then you have to make a selection that you need to anticipate six months in advance, and you must order the products you put on your site in two sizes so you have them both in-store and online.”

While Séverine hesitates about the method to apply in her store, Aubin Jeanteur cannot afford to do things halfway digitalising his business must involve all his employees.
Located in Charleville-Mézières, the Jeanteur department stores represent 150 years of history, 3,000 square meters of retail space, and notably, one of the last independent department stores in France.

In 2020, Aubin finally decided to launch an e-commerce site for strategic reasons.
Developing his website is part of his business’s modernisation efforts and a way to attract a younger clientele.

“The idea is to show young people that they can find Puma at Jeanteur and no longer need to go only to Courir,” Aubin Jeanteur explains.
Without prior experience or a clear method to start, he relied on his professional network, which allows him to share certain management and IT costs.

“We hesitated for a long time before launching our online store. Mainly because of SEO concerns, we finally took the plunge by following the example of multi-brand store networks we regularly exchange with.”

Product listing management, like stock management, is a recurring challenge especially for a large general department store.
Should all products be listed on the website, or should there be a selection?

“It’s huge, I can’t exactly quantify it, but I allocated the necessary resources,” explains the owner.
I had three full-time employees working on it for two months.
It was a bit tricky at first, but we learned, took the plunge, contacted brands to gather data, learned how to convert their files, created our own working method, and now our website accounts for 2% of our turnover.”

This monumental task was accomplished with the help of a team of BTS (higher technical diploma) interns.
Although online sales aren’t yet very significant, Aubin is among those business leaders who remain convinced that the future lies in digital.

Most brands already have visuals for product sheets as well as campaign images, so it’s more cost-effective to use those from suppliers especially since not everyone has the eye, time, or budget to organise photoshoots, explains Céline Tobelaim, manager of the Modi’in boutique in Toulouse.

“I’m the one who creates all the product sheets today and requests the photos from suppliers. I didn’t have the time or means to organise professional photoshoots like some others do, although I want to move in that direction.
Using supplier content allowed us to launch quickly, because content quality is extremely important, whether on the website or social media.”

“If we take a brand like Diesel, we have to get permission from the brand to sell online.
Today, we are an authorized retailer in-store, and we need to become an authorized retailer online as well.
That means they want our website to properly represent the brand—not some outdated, shabby site with photos that don’t look right.”

Caroline Lumbroso is the founder of the three Blush concept stores in Lyon. She is one of those retailers who didn’t wait for the lockdown to start selling online, having launched her e-commerce site back in 2017.
Today, she has mastered the subject and sees her website as a store in its own right.

“Wix is great when you’re starting out; it’s very user-friendly and intuitive when you have between 50 and 200 products. But after that, you need to switch to Shopify,” admits Caroline Lumbroso.
“In one year, with the help of my two interns, we managed to turn this website into our fourth store in terms of revenue, with 1,500 SKUs but it’s a real investment of time and money.”

“What I regret is that I find merchants are extremely isolated when facing this development.
There’s a kind of gap that has formed between the powerhouse big chains and the small neighborhood shops.
No one is there to help you find digital solutions; many merchants have been burned by developing websites that cost a fortune, even though nowadays there are platforms that make it very easy to do so.
There’s a kind of elitism around this data, which leaves you a bit lost.
Take the example of Alma, which is an amazing and super smooth solution for interest-free installment payments.
It took us a long time to find them, no one gave us any information.”

Selling in-store and selling online now seem complementary and inseparable for a business’s survival.
However, many will tell you that these are two different professions.
You need to take the time to learn, train, recruit, and take care of it properly.
And even if the team of interns is recruited, trained, and subsidized, the operating costs remain a key issue.
Just like a physical store, a website must be profitable.

Vincent Redrado, CEO and founder of the consulting firm Digital Native Group and the concept stores Marquette, warns about acquisition costs that need to be considered from the start :

“For me, the rent you pay for your stores is your acquisition cost,” explains the CEO.
“In the real world, if you no longer have a store, you have no foot traffic.
Online, if you don’t pay for Facebook ads, no one will visit your website.
Today, banks don’t finance rent and acquisition costs the same way, but for me, it’s the same thing.”

Alors entre bricolage, alternants et duplication du loyer, on a l’impression que cette mutation vers le digital est lente et douloureuse, mais comme pour toute chose, la persévérance paie et développe même des opportunités.
En effet, si beaucoup redoutent encore de se lancer sur le e-commerce, ceux qui ont fait le pari de la réussite, ces entrepreneurs de l’extrême que rien n’arrête, ont développé leur univers et leur singularité.
Ces chefs d’entreprises qui restaient en retrait de leur clientèle se sont mis sur le devant de la scène pour devenir de mini-influenceurs.
En témoigne Olivia Kharoubi, des Impertinentes à Paris qui a organisé son emploi du temps autour de la création de contenu.

« Tous les mardi de 15h à 17h30, je suis en shooting photo avec mon photographe pour alimenter mon site en nouveautés, raconte Olivia. Les mercredis, je viens une heure plus tôt avant l’ouverture du magasin pour tourner les reels et l’IPTV avec mes alternants. Et tous les samedis matins, je mets la nouvelle vitrine en photo sur Instagram. »

Ce rythme lui permet de dynamiser son offre, de gagner en notoriété et de créer du trafic en boutique Du live shopping à TikTok, elle considère que les réseaux sociaux sont indispensables au futur du détaillant.
Son expérience en la matière permet également d’alerter sur certains dysfonctionnements des plateformes.

Elle raconte : « On a pu faire des tests très bêtes sur des posts. Avec sensiblement la même tenue, que cela soit un look au sol ou un look porté, peu importe.
Quand je vais mettre un lien commercial qui va renvoyer directement sur le site, la photo va moins performer que s’il n’y a rien dessus.
C’est dommage lorsqu’on sait que ces fonctionnalités ont été créées pour les commerçants. »

So between makeshift solutions, interns, and doubling the rent, it feels like this shift to digital is slow and painful. But like with everything, perseverance pays off and even creates opportunities. Indeed, while many still hesitate to dive into e-commerce, those who have bet on success these relentless entrepreneurs who never give up have developed their own universe and uniqueness.

These business leaders, who used to stay behind the scenes away from their customers, have stepped into the spotlight to become mini-influencers. Olivia Kharoubi from Les Impertinentes in Paris is a perfect example, organizing her schedule around content creation.

“Every Tuesday from 3:00 to 5:30 pm, I have a photo shoot with my photographer to supply my website with new products,” Olivia explains. “On Wednesdays, I come in an hour early before the store opens to film reels and IPTV content with my interns. And every Saturday morning, I post a photo of the new window display on Instagram.”

This rhythm allows her to energize her offer, increase brand awareness, and drive traffic to the store. From live shopping to TikTok, she believes social media are essential to the future of retail. Her experience also raises awareness about some platform malfunctions.

She shares, “We ran some really basic tests on posts. With roughly the same outfit, whether it was a flat lay or worn look, it didn’t matter. When I add a shopping link directing straight to the site, the photo performs worse than if there’s no link at all. It’s a shame since these features were created for retailers.”

D’autres points de ventes, beaucoup moins nombreux cette fois-ci, sont carrément passés de l’autre côté de la barrière et leur activité est à présent majoritairement en ligne.
Georges Simon, cofondateur de Jane de Boy à Bordeaux nous explique comment ils sont passés de 2 millions d’euros en 2016 à 6 millions en 2019 grâce à leur site internet en mettant en place différentes levées de fonds.

« On s’est inspiré des belles histoires françaises et étrangères, je pense à Lulli sur La Toile qui est bien plus important que nous par exemple ou notamment à Mytheresa et Matchesfashion.
Ces boutiques ont compris qu’il fallait pousser les murs et aller chercher des clients dans le digital.
La prise de conscience, ça a été de se demander, comment une boutique comme Matches à Londres, ou Mytheresa à Munich pouvaient faire 10 millions d’euros, puis 100 millions d’euros, jusqu’à être valorisées à 1 ou 2 milliards de dollars aux USA ? »

Une belle histoire française quand on sait que JaneDeBoy.com a été créé il y a 16 ans en réponse à une marée noire dans le bassin d’Arcachon qui a fait vivre un été sans touristes aux commerçants.
16 ans à évoluer comme n’importe quel site e-commerce, jusqu’à une première levée de fond qui apportera l’investissement financier nécessaire pour développer le concept.

Georges confie : « Aujourd’hui on a un directeur d’exploitation, un département communication, un département influence, un département qui s’occupe du catalogue photo et un département logistique. »

Other points of sale, much fewer this time, have completely crossed to the other side and their business is now mainly online.
Georges Simon, co-founder of Jane de Boy in Bordeaux, explains how they went from 2 million euros in 2016 to 6 million in 2019 thanks to their website by implementing several rounds of fundraising.

“We were inspired by great French and international success stories I think of Lulli sur La Toile, which is much bigger than us for example, as well as Mytheresa and Matchesfashion.
These stores understood that they had to break down walls and reach customers digitally.
The awakening came when we asked ourselves how a store like Matches in London, or Mytheresa in Munich, could make 10 million euros, then 100 million euros, up to being valued at 1 or 2 billion dollars in the USA.”

A great French story considering that JaneDeBoy.com was created 16 years ago in response to an oil spill in the Arcachon basin, which caused a tourist-less summer for local merchants.
16 years of evolving like any other e-commerce site, until a first fundraising round brought the financial investment needed to develop the concept.

Georges confides: “Today we have an operations director, a communications department, an influencer department, a photo catalog department, and a logistics department.”