Retailers form group in bid to compete
Shops in the small central French city of Puy-en-Velay are about to launch a common internet site to compete with big regional retailers.
The European economic crisis has prompted about 300 stores to band together with the city's centre-right mayor and launch a new internet site acheteraupuy.com on 4 September, a municipal official said.
People in the city and 28 nearby towns of France's Auvergne region will be able to order items online and have them delivered to their doors in what Puy-en-Velay says is the first such initiative of its kind.
Puy-en-Velay has 60 000 inhabitants.
To date, internet-based retailing in rural France has been driven by major retailers like Carrefour, the world's second-largest distributor after the US group Walmart.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge