Examples of European Online Stores
Web Marketing Today, Issue 9, April 15, 1997
An excellent example of a multi-lingual version of a truly international e- commerce site is Dell-Europe, at http://www.euro.dell.com/intl/euro/. Here are some examples of good sources for European online shopping, all with secure payment systems:
England
Shopper's Universe (http://shoppersuniverse.com) offers most every kind of product.
France
Page France (http://www.pagefrance.com/shopping/ http://www.globeonline.fr) is probably the largest French online shop, claiming 30% of all French purchases on the Web. Languages: French, German and English http://www.leshopping.fr http://www.internet-shopping.fr http://www.paindesucre.com (French lingerie) http://www.axelea.com (mega bookstore -- French books) http://www.fromages.com (French cheeses) Allocine (http://www.allocine.fr -- the French are inveterate film-goers, with Paris' 350 theatres against New York's 100. Read film reviews, see where your film is playing in France, and order tickets online) http://www.internet-france-direct.com (computer products) Aux Vins de France (http://www.avfr.com): online wine purchase and delivery in Europe Promofrance (http://www.promofrance.com) is a new gallery of shops offering French products (art, jewels, gifts, gastronomy, clothing, entertainment, sports goods, high-tech, travel). JG Paltz (http://jacquespaltz.fr) has a nice success story: they specialize in beauty products and opened their Web site one year ago to extend their existing catalog sales. In one year, their sales have increased by 50%, and the proportion of export sales increased from 20% to 50%. A sampling of online French e-commerce sites can be seen at http://www.euromktg.com/gbc/fr/shopping.html.
Germany
"Shop24" (http://www.shopping24.de), Germany's largest shopping mall (1.5 million articles). My-World (http://www.my-world.de/indexd.html), a major online mall belonging to Karstadt (large German department store). There you can find books, computers, financial products, gifts, HiFi, clothes, food, music, travel, games, and sports items. nternet-Mall (http://www.einkaufs-netz.at) is an Austrian shopping mall, with pizza, inline-skates, office supplies (even portable telephones!), a grocery store, and the inevitable PC supplies.
Stern Magazine (Germany's equivalent to Life Magazine) offers a Shopping Guide (http://www.stern.de:1814/shop/) of many German online stores, and rates them with stars. One of the top German bookstores is ABC-Buecherdienst (http://www.telebuch.com), which offers free delivery. Travel is more popular in Germany than perhaps any other European country, and their Websites reflect the drive to get out and see the world. Top sites include Flug.de (http://www.flug.de) and Travelcenter (http://www.travelcenter.de) for booking airline tickets, Die Bahn (http://www.bahn.de) to see train timetables European-wide and buy tickets online, and Hotel Reservation Service (http://www.hrs.de) to book rooms in 20,000 hotels online. A sampling of online German e-commerce sites can be seen at http://www.euromktg.com/gbc/de/shopping.html.
Italy
Italy has a popular shopping mall called Virtual Shopping in Italy (http://www.visit.it). It offers Italy's finest products and services at very competitive prices. Italian designer products, perfumes, sunglasses, Italian watercolors.
Latin America
And e-commerce in Brazil? While most Brazilian supermarket managers are worrying about keeping the produce section stocked, Pao de Acucar is scrambling to revamp the chain's site on the World Wide Web (http://www.paodeacucar.com.br, with the home delivery service at http://www.grupopaodeacucar.com.br/delivery/). They deliver (next day delivery) to Sao Paulo, Alphaville, and some places in Brasilia, every day except Sunday (and planning on adding other locations soon).
Brazil is setting the pace for online shopping in South America. Universo Online (Brazil's biggest ISP, content provider and web developer group) includes a virtual mall featuring 26 stores and companies: flowers, compact disks, books, and clothing are sold, as well as PCs from Compaq Computer's Brazil site. They operate in Brazil as well as other countries in Latin America.
