Marc Schillaci - Oxatis Founder and CEO

Google, SFR and Oxatis - Working Hard to Get French Businesses Online

I'm extremely excited to announce the launch of a very important project that we've been working on for months now:

This morning, Oxatis, Google and SFR are launching a joint initiative: Mon Entreprise En Ligne, the French equivalent of Getting British Businesses Online, which allows any and all small businesses in France to create their website free of charge.

Internet is a proven way to boost the growth of small businesses across the globe. However, only 3 out of every 10 small to medium sized businesses in France have a website to present their company and services.

This initiative to get these small businesses online and help them understand all of the opportunities that Internet has to offer was developed in partnership with Google and SFR, emblematic Internet companies in France, and is supported by the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry.

• Oxatis has put forth its expertise to develop the technical platform and site-building tools and hosts all of the websites created through this initiative,
• SFR provides assistance with the use of web technologies via its SFR Pro 1001 service,
• Google proposes its online tools for generating traffic and optimizing visibility (AdWords, Analytics...) and offers 100 Euros to all users registered on meel.fr for their first AdWords ad campaign.

Mon Entreprise En Ligne is an exceptionally open and flexible initiative:

• No subscription required, no long-term obligations
• All information contained in the site belongs entirely to its creator
• Free services for 1 year: system and tools, domain name and hosting are free of charge the first year. They are then provided at 5 Euros Excl. VAT per month.

The Mon Entreprise En Ligne team will be taking to the road on a bus tour of France throughout the month of May to spread the word and get those small businesses online!

Training and seminars, in partnership with local Chambers of Commerce and Industry, will be provided for small businesses, as well as personal (and free!) help and support with creating their website. 

The Mon Entreprise en Ligne bus tour will be visiting the following cities:

• Rouen, 09 May 2011 
• Lille, 11 May
• Strasbourg, 12 May
• Lyon, 16 and 17 May
• Marseille, 18 May
• Nice, 19 May
• Montpellier, 23 May
• Toulouse, 24 May
• Bordeaux, 25 May
• Nantes, 26 May
• Rennes, 27 May

Franck Cadoret, General Director of SFR, Jean Marc Tassetto, General Director of Google France, and I, hope that a multitude of French SMEs will come out and take advantage of this special opportunity!

For those of you French-speakers out there, feel free to visit the site meel.fr for more details about the project.

European E-Commerce, is a cross-border market possible?

With 45.5% of Oxatis e-merchants wanting to take their business abroad, here's a survey conducted by YouGov Zapera for DIBS Payment Services that should peak their interest!  

With regards to consumers, the study found that 90% of European Internet users purchase online, but apparently, how much each person spends varies significantly from one country to another.
Note: I re-read the study a few times and it claims that ... "90% of all Internet users in the selected eight countries, have made online purchases". That seems a little exaggerated to me.

Nevertheless, the study becomes very interesting when it starts looking at cross-border spending habits.

• On average, a third of consumers in Europe purchased on a website outside of their own country.  
• In the heavy spender category, 52% made purchases on foreign websites.
• The two most important reasons to shop abroad were to find lower prices for 61% and to find products that weren't available in their own country for 55%.

The front runners among these cross-border consumers are Norway, Finland and Denmark.
We really don't give enough thought to Nordic countries!

And how are these buyers going to find your online store? The answer's not too original...either they know you already (which doesn't explain how) or through search engines, online marketplaces and shopping comparison services.

However, it's important to note that nearly 30% find you based on a friend's recommendation. Our customer's friends are our future customers ...

For more details, I recommend taking a closer look at this study to benefit from the wealth of information and advice to be found when starting out. 

As they say in Norway, Alle mine ønsker om suksess!

Paris, E-Commerce Capital of the World!

The good news is that Europe is now the worldwide leader in E-Commerce with total sales in 2009 reaching over 153 billion Euros versus 117 billion Euros in the United States and less than 100 billion for the entire Asia region. 

Knowing that the E-Commerce Paris exhibition is the largest E-Commerce exhibition in Europe and that Europe is the largest E-Commerce zone on the international stage, Paris is quite simply the E-Commerce capital of the world until Thursday!

Not sure you can make it? Don't wait any longer. If you're in Paris, swing by and see us at stand J1.

The Future of E-Commerce: European Commission Consults the Public

This month, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the future of electronic commerce and the implementation of the Directive on electronic commerce (2000/31/CE).

The 77-question online survey is aimed at everyone touched by this sector: policy makers, businesses, retailers, service providers and the public. The goal is to get a better understanding as to why, 10 years after adopting the Electronic Commerce Directive to help promote cross-border trade, retail e-commerce still makes up less than 2% of European total retail trade.

Out-law published an article shedding some light on the subject for those of you who would like to participate. You have until October 15th to get your questionnaire in. You can fill it out here.

The result of this work will be taken into account in the Commission's deliberations with a view to the adoption in the first half of 2011 of a Communication of electronic commerce.

I highly recommend sharing your opinion, whatever it may be.

Is social media more beneficial for SMEs than large businesses?

Surprising study!

According to a Regus report that came out in mid-July studying 15,000 businesses worldwide, SMEs reap more benefits from social networking than big businesses do: 44% of SMEs acquired new customers through social networking versus 28% of large businesses.

Even though a lot of businesses have been dragging their feet when it comes to using social networking as one of their marketing channels, more than 700,000 SMEs now have at least a fan page on Facebook.

And the return on investment is such that 28% of SMEs are putting a certain percent of their marketing budget into social media.

Mark Dixon, Regus CEO states: "Our global survey has revealed that social networking has finally become an effective business tool, and SMEs are leading the way in this. Whilst the most popular function of these networks remains that of keeping in touch with contacts, small businesses are also successfully acquiring new customers, supporting their retention efforts and interacting with customer groups. This survey indicates that organisations who have not yet ventured into the world of social networking may be missing a sizeable business opportunity."

I couldn't have said it better, even if, empirically, I'm not sure that that these figures are proportionately accurate. 

Be that as it may, I still recommend that Oxatis customers, and SMEs in general, jump on the social media bandwagon, at least for a first round of observation.

Save the date! Oxatis E-Commerce Seminars Scheduled for September and October 2010 in Paris

It's summer and everything's moving in slow motion, including your schedule.
Here are two dates to remember because you just might still have some free time left in September and October! So why not hop over to Paris and mix a little business with pleasure!

• 21 September 2010, during the Salon E-Commerce Paris (September 21-23), Hervé Bourdon, our VP Marketing, will be holding a seminar entitled Social Commerce: A new dimension for new opportunities. You can also find us on Stand J1 for these 3 days.

You can register for this trade show here.

• 13 October 2010, I'll be participating in a conference during the Salon des Micro-Entreprises (October 13-15) dedicated to the theme: E-Commerce, Eldorado or Smoke and Mirrors?
  A few ideas to get those brain muscles in shape and get the constructive thought process flowing.
  I'll be joined by Christine Lorimy, Head of Marketing for La Poste - ColiPoste, by the Fevad and the debate will be lead by Corine Moriou, Senior Correspondent for the French magazine L'Entreprise.

To register and get your free pass, click here.

Oxatis E-Commerce Academy Nominees - Jury Deliberation 24 June 2010

Once again, we had a heated meeting this year to choose the list of nominees for the E-Commerce Academy.

Here's a sneak peak at the nominees that came out of the jury deliberation last week.
An unexpected surprise: Two Italian applicants were nominated this time around.

See you this Friday night, 2 July, for the awards ceremony that will be held in Marseille during the Oxatis event - Journées Oxygène.

Good luck to all the nominees! 

• Master
  Pascal Gesan for alterafrica
  Marc Hauglustaine for aux meilleurs prix 
  Jacques Bottemanne for bières du monde

• General
  Alain Bierry for abp-piscines
  Ydriss Dessay for Cadodes 
  Olivier Kaufman for terrasse- nature 

• ECP
  Christophe Meurant for AchaTendance
  Olivier Baudewyn for Journaux originaux
  Nicolas Tant for Decklinea

• Newbie
  Nicolas de Watteville for e-claireur
  Arnaud Pfliger for climadreamshop
  Francesca Mistrangelo for ClickNails

• Women
  Tamara Tarassova for Altavic-bio
  Sylvia Grandperrin for Les Joyaux De La Couronne
  Angela Carpinelli for Mammabimbo

With professional participation from our jury members:

• Bertrand PINEAU
  FEVAD
• Martine FUXA
  E-Commerce Mag 
• Olivier LEVY
  Blog E-Commerce 
• Christophe LAUER
  Microsoft 
• Laurent BIZOT
  Oxatis 
• Luc LECHELLE investisseur
  ALP Capital 
• Catherine HEADLEY
  Ecole Supérieure de Gestion 
• Gimena DIAZ
  PayPal 
• Philippe STANO
  Graphical Dream

And a big thanks to Jacques Froissant and his team.

Do Your E-Commerce Site Right!

Missed our seminar at the Business Startup show? Saw the slides after the show on our blog (remember?) but want some more information? Catch up now!

Oxatis UK Country Manager, Tania Chamma, presents simple techniques for optimizing your website and return on investment.

Learn simple ways to persuade buyers to buy more or buy wiser. See who you should be targeting, how you should be targeting them and how to keep them in your shop. Understand how to better analyze your site and increase conversion.

All of this and more right below!

See more information and videos on the Oxatis Startup TV channel.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below.

Happy watching!

Oxatis at E-Commerce Expo in Madrid - June 8-9

Do you have a subject concerning e-commerce or the web that you want to share? Come and co-blog it here!

This post was written by Norma, Country Manager Spain for Oxatis.

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Similar to the E-Commerce Expo in London, where Oxatis will be present in October, the E-commerce Expo Spain will take place in Madrid the 8th and 9th of June at the Convention Center of Madrid.

While in its first year, the E-Commerce Expo Spain is set to be the largest event dedicated to E-Commerce in the country. So, if you're thinking about expanding your e-business to the Spanish market, or would just like some info and will be in the Madrid area, stop by and see us.

We'll giving a seminar at the show entitled "Cómo mejorar el rendimiento de su tienda virtual" (or "How to optimize your shop's performance" for the strictly English speaking :) ) You can come and see us at 5:00 p.m. in the Amsterdam Hall on June 8th to learn more about how to make your e-commerce site more efficient and up your return on investment.

Oxatis will also be sponsoring an award for the best small e-tailer at the show.

And two Oxatis clients have been nominated in this category!

• Regalo Natura

  Like what you see? Vote for Regalo Natura here.

• GuapoStore

Like what you see? Vote for GuapoStore here.

And because Spaniards love giving out awards, Oxatis has been nominated as well in the "Best E-Commerce Technology Provider" category. 

If you want to help us claim that prize, you can vote for us here.

You have until Friday, June 4th at 6:00 p.m. to vote for your favorites in each category. Thanks for your support!

If you make it out, stop by and let us know. We'd love to see you!

Oxatis at Business Startup in London: Seminar "Make Your Website Work for You!"

This afternoon, Oxatis gave a seminar at the Business Startup show at ExCeL in London entitled: "Make Your Website Work for You!".

Dedicated to helping small businesses succeed on the web, Oxatis wanted to talk directly to these budding e-tailers about how to target the right public, how to get them in the virtual door, and how to keep them coming back for more. 

All of these businesses know that increasing conversion and upping their return on investment is a high priority. Oxatis talked about some simple techniques to achieve this on the web.

You missed the seminar and wanted to check out the presentation? Ask no more! Just look below :)

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. We'll get back to you as soon as we can!

Make Your Website Work for You!

View more presentations from Oxatis.