e-commerce/e-tourism

Provence, the home of e-commerce

The Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis is a top strategic location to develop e-commerce activities. The metropolis is the leading European interconnection platform, a great advantage to companies, which benefit from high-performance network infrastructure and world-class data centers and their capacity to support high volumes of transactions or high peaks in sales.

Merchant sites based in Aix-Marseille-Provence also benefit from the delivery services facilitated by one of Europe's largest and most efficient logistics hubs:

• A multimodal territory: sea, air, rail, river, and road;
• The Port of Marseille Fos, the leading French port with a pioneering ‘Smart Port’ project underway;
• The Marseille-Provence Airport, second largest center for freight transport in France;
• 2 high speed TGV rail lines;
• The River Port in Arles;
• An extensive network of quality roads and highways.

Online tourism services are more concentrated in Provence than in any other region in France. Large, growing companies such as Abritel, Expedia, HomeAway, Vacances Bleues, and Voyage Privé have established their headquarters in Provence and are expanding their market share. There is also a flourishing community of e-tourism start-ups with companies like Rendez-vous chez nous and Vigimilia proving that innovation and creativity are a source of success.

Key figures for the e-commerce sector in Provence

• The leading French location for data centers outside of Paris;
• 8 data centers with two certified Tier IV centers and three certified Tier III centers (Interxion, Jaguar Network, TDF, Econocom/Asp Server, Acropolis, Interoute, IELO, Fiducial Cloud);
• 9 submarine "backbone" communications cables connecting Europe and the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, Africa, and Asia;
• A project for a 10th major transatlantic cable linking New York directly to Marseille without going through the United Kingdom, as announced by Flag Telecom Ltd.;
• More than 100 telecom operators.

Provence’s e-commerce advantage

• Renowned local services and contractors for the design and hosting of websites and e-commerce applications: solutions adapted to all types of companies and marketplaces, specialized merchant sites, sales, and internet-based professional services and tourism service providers...

• The eCom Provence network dedicated exclusively to e-commerce is a dynamic ecosystem made up of 100 active members in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, and Nice. Its objective is to promote e-commerce activities in the region (mentoring, training, information meetings, events, etc.) through promotional and communication activities.

• The Voyage Privé initiatives to support innovation in e-tourism through their own accelerator program, the Tremplins (Springboards), to foster innovative new projects. Successful applicants attend an annual Summer Camp in Aix-en-Provence and are accompanied by the group's executives to accelerate the growth of their start-up. The company is also planning the creation of a university dedicated to the e-tourism professions.

• Aix-Marseille French Tech brings together all of the players and digital projects in the metropolis under the same brand. This initiative also encourages the creation and development of start-ups through national mechanisms and local events. In the field of e-commerce, the "Shake" event brings together more than 2000 visitors for a program of conferences and an exhibition space dedicated to B-to-B networking.