France

Value sales of analgesics in France continue to record solid growth in 2023 following a dynamic performance the previous year. The key growth driver is the increasing demand for acetaminophen, with the brand Doliprane from Sanofi, convincingly…

Booking sales have seen a strong recovery over 2022-2023. Industry players have benefited from the rearrangement of postponed travel bookings, with many consumers having postponed travelling abroad during the pandemic. After two years of restrictions…

Portable players has been showing flat-negative growth over the review period, which worsened through 2021-2023. That said, the overall category volume is expected to be back in small positive volume growth in 2024. Wireless speakers remains the…

Beauty and personal care in France saw positive current value growth in 2023, mainly driven by rising prices due to ongoing inflation in the country, which pushed up costs and prices, therefore supporting value growth. Although value sales recovered…

Sales of traditional and connected watches in France remain positive in 2023, notably due to the ongoing growth of inbound and domestic tourism, and consumers’ footfall in Paris and the larger cities of France. Luxury brands (EUR3,000-5,000)…

Following a sales slump in 2022, standard vacuum cleaners continued to struggle with a decrease in volumes in 2023. This resulted largely from the fact that 2020 and 2021 had been good years for the category. The era of the pandemic led to consumers…

Sales of staple foods have been negatively impacted by the elevated inflation that hit France in late 2022 and early 2023. As a result, the vast majority of prices went up across staple foods with volume sales either showing minimal growth or even…

Hosiery is another category in negative volume growth, while value is better supported by inflationary factors. Both sheer hosiery and non-sheer hosiery are showing such slumps, with sheer hosiery performing slightly better by a tiny margin. That…

Some trends given impetus during the pandemic remain relevant in France. As health and wellness trends continue to rise among the French population, sports, active lifestyles and the importance of daily movement continue to gain traction. The…

Lodging fared better in 2022 than had been expected and continues to perform well in 2023. 2020 and 2021 were a disaster for the hotel industry, with occupancy rates of 38% and 48% respectively, according to INSEE – French official statistics. The…

Whilst still seeing sales declines, imaging devices is faring better in 2023 than seen in 2022. However, we should consider that imaging devices has been in a decline for a decline, due to the growing use of smartphones for taking photographs and…

In France, leading players in shelf stable soup have been responding to the challenging environment by revamping their brands and products. This has been boosting demand for glass bottles, although brick liquid cartons continue to dominate packaging…

Sales of contact lenses and solutions in France are moderating in 2024 following a period of strong growth during and directly after the COVID-19 pandemic. The inconvenience of spectacle lenses fogging up while wearing masks had deterred some people…

Mass beauty and personal care in France demonstrated positive current value growth in the low single digits in 2023. Price increases driven by inflation supported value growth in most mass categories, although volume sales struggled to remain…

Beauty specialists benefitted from the continued post-pandemic return to increased time spent socialising and working outside of the home in France in 2023. Demand rose in categories like colour cosmetics, among others. Similarly, optical goods…

In 2021 and 2022, apparel and footwear specialist retailers in France saw strong current value growth as they began their post-pandemic recovery. However, inflationary pressures have since reduced household spending on discretionary goods. In 2023…

Dishwashers saw volume sales fall in 2023 due to lower levels of dynamism in the real estate market, as these are products that usually get bought when consumers are acquiring a new home. Another factor that has adversely affected volume sales is the…

Consumer credit is facing a number of challenges in France, to the extent the French Association of Financial Companies is reported to have called credit in 2023 a “serious cold snap”. As such, credit difficulties also affect the performance of…

Womenswear is in a volume slump following an uptick in sales immediately following the pandemic. The uptick was reactionary following the abnormal era of store closures and is not persisting due to budgetary pressures and inflation. Whilst e-commerce…

Apparel accessories has slumped in volume in 2023, to just under 1% growth. This is in contrast to the more promising performance seen over the past two years, as the category rebounded from the double-digit volume decline seen during the pandemic.…