The French online commerce generates an increasing volume of transactions each year, but the share captured by small businesses remains modest compared to large platforms. With recent European regulatory changes and the arrival of generative AI tools in marketing workflows, the levers for developing an online business have multiplied. The framework in which these web strategies operate has changed, and the tactics that worked three years ago deserve to be reexamined.
European Regulation and Web Strategies: What Has Changed Since the DMA
The Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect in March 2024, directly alters how companies can reach their customers online. Large platforms classified as “gatekeepers” are now required to stop favoring their own services in search results or marketplaces.
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For a company selling its products online, this means that organic search is becoming a competitive lever against web giants. Search results on Google, for example, must leave more room for independent merchant sites. However, these sites must be technically prepared to take advantage of this.
The Digital Services Act (DSA), on the other hand, imposes transparency obligations on targeted advertising. Advertisers relying on marketing campaigns through social media must adapt their targeting practices, particularly regarding consent. Any web strategy based on paid advertising must integrate these constraints from the campaign design stage, or risk seeing its audiences reduced or advertising accounts suspended.
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The GDPR continues to shape customer data collection. Companies wishing to personalize their marketing content without third-party data are turning to first-party data, collected directly on their site through forms, customer accounts, or loyalty programs.
This is a paradigm shift that requires time and resources but allows for building a stronger and compliant business relationship. Those wishing to delve deeper into these issues can discover La Star du Web to explore various approaches suited to this context.
Generative AI and Content Production: Real Gains and Documented Limits
Generative AI has revolutionized online marketing content production. HubSpot, in its report “The State of Generative AI in Marketing” published in September 2024, states that SMEs using generative AI to optimize titles, emails, and landing pages are seeing a net increase in their click-through and open rates. The gains are significant enough to justify reallocating budget towards these tools.
Shopify, for its part, documents in its report “The Future of Commerce 2024” that merchants who have adopted integrated AI assistants (Shopify Magic, automated product descriptions) are able to publish new product listings more quickly. This acceleration translates into an increase in the number of active references and, by extension, online revenue.
What AI Does Not Replace in a Content Strategy
Field feedback diverges on one point: the quality perceived by customers. An AI-generated text, even revised, may lack sector-specific details or a brand’s unique tone. Companies achieving the best results combine assisted generation with thorough human proofreading.
The risk of duplicate or generic content also weighs on SEO. Google has clarified that AI-generated content is not penalized per se, but that the added value for the reader remains the ranking criterion. Publishing ten identical product listings reformulated by a tool will never replace a description that answers a buyer’s concrete questions.
Online Sales Funnel: The Friction Points Most Sites Ignore
Before seeking more visibility, it is often more profitable to correct what causes lost sales on an existing site. The available data does not always allow for a conclusion on a “normal” conversion rate by sector, but certain friction points consistently recur.
- The loading time of product pages on mobile: beyond a few seconds, most visitors leave the site before seeing the offer. Compressing images, reducing third-party scripts, and using high-performance hosting are technical actions that have a direct impact on sales.
- The payment process: each additional step between the cart and order confirmation increases the abandonment rate. Offering guest checkout (without mandatory account creation) measurably reduces this friction.
- The absence of visible social proof: customer reviews, ratings, testimonials. A visitor who finds no feedback on a merchant site is more hesitant to finalize their purchase, especially when facing a brand they are discovering.
Correcting these three points does not require an advertising budget. It is about optimizing what exists, and the gains on the conversion rate are reflected in every euro spent on traffic acquisition.
Web Traffic Acquisition: Balancing SEO, Paid Advertising, and Social Media
The three main acquisition channels for an online business are not equal depending on the stage of the company’s development or the type of products sold.
Organic search (SEO) produces results in the medium term. A well-structured site, with regularly updated content and pages that meet specific search intents, captures qualified traffic without cost per click. However, the initial significant effects often require several months of continuous work.
Paid advertising (Google Ads, Meta Ads) generates immediate traffic but at a cost that is increasing in most sectors. Without rigorous tracking of return on investment by campaign, the marketing budget can evaporate quickly. The DSA’s constraints on advertising targeting add a layer of complexity.
Social media functions more as a channel for awareness and loyalty than for direct sales for most businesses. Their effectiveness strongly depends on the sector: a business selling visual products (fashion, decor, food) benefits more from Instagram or TikTok than a B2B service provider.
The balance between these channels does not follow a universal formula. It depends on the available budget, the customer’s decision-making cycle, and the company’s ability to produce regular content. Testing a channel for a few weeks with a limited budget, measuring results, and then reallocating resources to what works remains the most reliable method for progressing without wasting.