With ecommerce in France expected to total US$67 billion in 2021 following the pandemic, BigCommerce will offer language, payment and content support to help local merchants compete in today’s increasingly digital-first economy.

BigCommerce , a leading global Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established brands, announced it has extended its European presence from the U.K., into France, as well as the Netherlands and Italy. With BigCommerce, merchants in France now have access to a flexible, enterprise-grade ecommerce platform built to sell on a local and global scale. This latest growth phase comes almost a year since the company’s IPO in August 2020 and three years since the company first put down roots in EMEA with an office in London in 2018.

Over the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to ecommerce and led to significant growth of ecommerce markets within the Eurozone. In the U.K. as well as France, Italy and the Netherlands, the volume of ecommerce sales is growing year on year. The ecommerce sector (for products and services) in France reached 112 billion euros in 2020; a gigantic step and an evolution of 8.5% over one year, mainly due to the pandemic. The beginning of this year is following the same trend, and the numbers are already impressive: 29.1 billion euros were spent on the internet in the first three months of 2021.

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“This, coupled with our extensive local partner network, will provide the right combination of support to allow merchants to build and establish their online presence locally, with local partners. In turn this will support those retailers to enhance the ecommerce offering for their end customers.”

BigCommerce’s expansion will create new roles in France to work directly with merchants in the region. As part of this fully localised experience, local merchants will be able to use the BigCommerce platform to manage their store in their local language, as well as create a fully localized website experience for their shoppers, with their local payment methods and currencies.

Commenting on the expansion, BigCommerce VP and GM EMEA, Jim Herbert, said: “BigCommerce powers over 60,000 merchants worldwide and this latest phase of our EMEA expansion underpins our ongoing commitment to the region and retailers within it. Our presence in France will enable us to provide tailored programmes and services specific to our customers and partners across Europe.

“Since our EMEA launch three years ago, we’ve helped retailers of all sizes enhance their digital presence and boost sales through our platform. We’ve also established a strong local partner network both across Europe and within its respective markets to ensure merchants have the freedom to work with technology and agency partners that best fit their specific business needs.”

Akeneo is one of a growing list of existing local technology and agency partners, which also includes Agence Dn’D and Attraqt.

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“As a global product information management company headquartered in France, we’re excited about BigCommerce’s continued expansion in continental Europe and their strategic entrance into the French market,” said Johan Benoualid, VP Sales EMEA & APAC at Akeneo. “Whether you’re a retailer looking to double down on multichannel strategies or a rapidly growing DTC brand, BigCommerce provides the tried-and-true, flexible infrastructure that will deliver and exceed the expectations of tech-savvy French online shoppers. Merchants can also benefit from BigCommerce’s expanding local partner ecosystem, such as Akeneo PIM, which provides best-of-breed, turnkey solutions to unlock growth with product experience management across channels.”

BigCommerce has already built an established customer base in France, with recognised brands such as La Bouche Rouge, Nippon Shoten and Agent 00Spas.

Jim Herbert concluded: “Our Open SaaS platform provides our users with a flexible and auto-scaling solution, which offers agility within a platform designed to grow alongside their business.

“This, coupled with our extensive local partner network, will provide the right combination of support to allow merchants to build and establish their online presence locally, with local partners. In turn this will support those retailers to enhance the ecommerce offering for their end customers.”