Mail-order selling and distance shopping in the european union

Mail-Order Selling in the European European is very different now than it was when the first catalogues appeared in the 19th Century. The main developments have been:

The type of business mail-order firms are engaged in. The manufacturers-distributors have gone; now they are just distributors, as illustrated by the example of the French firms La Redoute and les Trois Suisses which used to be mills in Northern France and are now international distributors.

Sector concentation, with the formation of powerful international groups.

Expansion of the ranges of products on offer: clothing and textiles, household goods, DIY, computer, leisure, travel, financial products, etc.

The powerful interaction between mail-order firms� distribution media and shop distribution networks.

The diversification of distribution media ranging from traditional media, or paper media, such as catalogues, mailings and brochures to ``electronic shopping`` methods such as Minitel, teleshopping, CD-Rom and Internet.

Electronic media are already having a very powerful impact on the mail-order shopping scene and this is set to continue. The three reasons for this are:

First, the diversification of distribution media has widened the field of operation both in geographic terms and in terms of consumer groups.

Second, while the traditional media require marketing action from firms, with electronic shopping methods it is for the potential consumer to decide to contact the distributor (similar situation to that of a consumer having to choose a shop). In the first case, the contact stage is an offer for sale situation, in the second it is a shopping situation.

Finally, and as a corollary of the above, as the leading actor is in some cases the company and in some cases the consumer, the concepts of ``selling`` and ``shopping`` now need to be included in the name of this business activity.

Hence, the expression that will be used in this survey is ``Mail-Order Selling and Distance Shopping``, or MOSDS for short.

The special feature of this sector in the European Union is a high market concentration (unlike the far more fragmented North American market), not only in terms of firms (scarcely a dozen firms dominate the European Union market) but also in terms of geography as, on their own, Germany, the United Kingdom and France account for 80% of total sales in the EU market.

While there are still many uncertainties about the future of MOSDS in the EU, the two most pressing questions are:

Will the new technologies (CD-Rom, Internet) be able to inject new life into this relatively sluggish sector and are they the only factors capable of doing so?

Will the long-awaited revival still be confined to the three leading EU markets or will it help MOSDS to really take off in all the Member States?