France Export
France looks familiar, but it only rewards companies that treat it as a market of its own. A practical guide to exporting to France, written by a native French consultant who helps foreign companies enter the French market.
- 68.6 millionpeople in FranceInsee, 1 January 2025
- €175.3 bnonline sales in 2024Fevad
- €10.2 bnFrance–Singapore trade in goods, 2024DG Trésor
- ≈ 90 %share of searches on GoogleStatCounter
Market
Singapore and France: France's gateway to ASEAN – Exporting to France
According to France's Directorate General of the Treasury (DG Trésor), trade in goods between France and Singapore reached €10.2 billion in 2024. France exported €7.6 billion of goods to Singapore and imported €2.7 billion, and Singapore alone took 52.9% of French exports to ASEAN. Luxury goods, perfumes and cosmetics feature prominently, and about half of what France ships to Singapore is re-exported across the region.
Since the EU–Singapore Free Trade Agreement entered into force in November 2019, most customs duties between the EU and Singapore have gone. But tariffs are rarely the real hurdle. Many companies underestimate how French buyers judge a website: language, legal notices, prices including VAT, delivery terms. The winners are not those who simply translate their site, but those who build a genuinely local presence in France.
Buyers
How French buyers buy – Exporting to France
- Demanding about languageOne awkward sentence or a text that reads like a translation is enough to lose their trust.
- CautiousThey compare, read reviews and check the legal notices before buying or asking for a quote.
- Formal in B2BPeople address each other as « vous », job titles matter and emails follow set phrases. Like Singapore's business culture, it values courtesy, but logic and evidence count for more than hierarchy.
- LoyalOnce convinced, French customers often stay with the same supplier for years.
Want to present yourself properly to French buyers? See: French SEO services.
Regions
One country, many Frances
Paris isn't all of France. Food, words, accents and buying habits change from one region to the next, and people search with their own regional words, just as a 'hawker centre' in Singapore would be a 'food court' elsewhere. That is why, when targeting a regional market, I research keywords region by region.
Paris and Île-de-France
Ham and butter baguettes, bistro lunches and café terraces packed all year round.
Fast and direct, full of slang and verlan (syllables swapped around).
Where head offices and decision-makers are: around a third of French GDP is generated here.
National keywords are highly competitive. Aim for specific search terms with buying intent.
Hauts-de-France
Mussels and fries, Maroilles cheese, welsh (cheese melted in beer on toast).
The ch'ti dialect: a floor cloth is a « wassingue ».
A logistics hub between Paris, London and Brussels, with a strong Belgian influence.
Cross-border searches: many buyers compare French and Belgian offers.
Alsace and Grand Est
Choucroute, flammekueche, bretzels.
The Alsatian dialect and German-sounding surnames; many people also speak German.
Home to the European Parliament, with local laws inherited from its history.
A natural bridge to Germany: bilingual pages work well here.
Brittany
Galettes, crêpes, cider and kouign-amann.
Breton place names and a very strong regional pride.
Food processing, cybersecurity and a habit of buying « Made in Brittany » first.
Regional labels and local references build trust quickly.
Lyon and the Alps
Lyon's bouchons and quenelles; raclette, fondue and tartiflette in the Alps.
In Lyon, a child is a « gone » and a floor cloth becomes a « panosse ».
France's second economic region: industry, pharmaceuticals and winter sports.
Strong B2B demand: technical pages written by a native French speaker make the difference.
Provence and the Côte d'Azur
Bouillabaisse, aïoli, pastis and socca in Nice.
The sing-song southern accent: « peuchère », « fada ».
Ports and tourism, and a warmer, more personal way of doing business.
Seasonal peak: prepare summer (July–August) campaigns from March or April.
South-West
Cassoulet, canelés, duck and wine.
Here it is a « chocolatine », not a « pain au chocolat », and a bag is a « poche ».
Aerospace in Toulouse, wine in Bordeaux and rugby everywhere.
Regional words change the keywords. Test both before you decide.
Normandy
Camembert, cider, calvados, and butter or cream in almost every dish.
The famous « p'têt ben qu'oui » (maybe yes, maybe no): Normans rarely commit at the first meeting.
The ports of Le Havre and Rouen, energy and food industries. One hour from Paris.
Cautious buyers: detailed explanations and clear prices reassure them.
Nantes and the Atlantic coast
LU petit beurre biscuits (born in Nantes), Muscadet wine and rillettes from Le Mans.
Very standard French. Whether Nantes belongs to Brittany is still debated.
Shipbuilding in Saint-Nazaire, aerospace and a lively start-up scene in Nantes.
In this proud region, local references and case studies lift conversion rates.
Loire Valley
Tarte Tatin, goat's cheese and Loire wines.
The Touraine area is said to speak the « purest » French.
Pharmaceuticals, the « Cosmetic Valley » cluster, farming and château tourism.
Standard French works well here, making it a good test market for national campaigns.
Burgundy and Franche-Comté
Bœuf bourguignon, Dijon mustard, Comté cheese and snails.
In the countryside, you can still hear the rolled « r ».
Wine, food processing and precision industry: from Burgundy vineyards to the watchmakers of the Jura.
Terroir and origin matter. Show where and how your products are made.
Corsica
Figatellu sausage, brocciu cheese and chestnut flour.
Corsican, close to Tuscan, is taught at school and road signs are bilingual.
Highly seasonal tourism and a clear preference for local businesses.
Searches explode before summer. Publish and advertise from March.
Hover over or tap a region to see its main cities and population.
Words
Talk like the French
Regulations
What French law requires of your website
- Toubon Law (1994)Advertising, product descriptions, instructions and contracts for consumers must be in French.
- Mentions légalesIdentity of the website publisher, address, registration number and hosting details.
- Terms of sale (CGV)Mandatory for sales to consumers, with a 14-day right of withdrawal.
- CookiesThe CNIL, France's equivalent of Singapore's PDPC, is very strict about consent: no tracking before the visitor agrees.
- B2B payment termsCapped by law, usually at 60 days from the invoice date.
Payments
Payment methods and sales seasons
Forget PayNow and GrabPay. In France, bank cards dominate, especially the French Carte Bancaire network. PayPal is widely used too, and paying in three or four instalments is common online. In B2B, bank transfer is the norm. Always show consumer prices including French VAT (TVA).
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Peaks: winter sales (January), summer sales (late June to July), « la rentrée » back to school (September), Black Friday and ChristmasAugust: half of France is on holiday
Search
Google, ChatGPT and search in France
About 9 out of 10 searches in France are on Google, with Bing and Qwant sharing the rest. But French buyers increasingly ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude which supplier to choose. To appear in those answers, your company needs a clear, consistent description in French. I call this: GEO.
Experience
More than translation: your partner on the ground in France
I'm a French consultant based in Greater Paris, and helping foreign companies grow in France is my daily work: market research, French websites, SEO, Google Ads and visibility in AI assistants. I know the market from the inside, region by region.
Before you invest, I analyse the market: competitors, prices, target customers, standards and the words French buyers use. That is exactly what I did for PrintPunk.
A bilingual French–German market study for entering France: trends, competitors, target customers, prices and applicable standards, to decide where and how to start.
A German manufacturer of reusable cups and tableware for events. I have handled its SEO in France since September 2025: technical audit, research into about 1,500 French keywords and rewriting of the French copy.
Is your website ready for France?
A free two-minute test: a score out of 100, your strengths and three priorities for the French market.
Start the test
About your consultant
Antoine Sanières
Strategy and marketing consultant for the French market
I work in Pantin, right next to Paris. French is my native language, and I also work in English, German and Dutch. I hold two master's degrees, in international business and digital marketing, and since founding Anton Anton in 2023 I have completed more than 100 projects for French and international companies.
This page: Exporting to France I wrote this guide myself, drawing on my experience as a French consultant helping foreign companies enter France.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions – Exporting to France
Do we have to translate our website into French to sell in France?
What duties apply when exporting from Singapore to France?
How big is the French e-commerce market?
What are the advantages of exporting to France?
Do you also carry out market research for France?
Which search engine do French people use?
Can't see your question? Ask me directly – I reply within one working day
Sources: Insee (population at 1 January 2025), Fevad (e-commerce 2024), StatCounter (search engine market share), DG Trésor (France–Singapore trade 2024), Insee (regional GDP).
