La Poste is a universal parcel operator serving individuals, small and large e-commerce businesses, regardless of their size or nationality. The agreement signed with Temu is a “classic” logistics services agreement that extends for three years a collaboration that has been in place since Temu's arrival in France in 2023. La Poste is required to treat all its customers equally, with the same terms and conditions of sale. As such, the company cannot refuse access to its services, which would be considered a “refusal to sell.”
Chinese e-retailers export huge quantities of products to France every day, by air or sea. Postal workers have no oversight of the contents of parcels or the goods being transported. La Poste is only involved in the last-mile delivery of these parcels once they have already been imported into France.
The parcel market continues to grow but is highly concentrated, with 80% of this growth now driven by Asian platforms (Alibaba, Shein, Temu, etc.), Amazon, and Vinted. Chinese e-retailers in particular are growing rapidly, and French consumers are ordering heavily from their platforms.
Nearly 50% market share, La Poste occupies an important place in parcel delivery in France. This also means that one in two parcels is distributed by competitors such as Amazon, Colis Privé, Mondial Relay, and, for the past year, Chinese logistics companies.
Among the parcels distributed by La Poste, the share of large e-commerce platforms is growing: 40% of Colissimo volumes are now represented by Chinese platforms (20%) and Amazon (20%).
Capturing these flows benefits all e-merchants. In order for La Poste to continue offering a sorting and distribution service to all merchants at an affordable price throughout the country, it needs parcels from larger depositors. Pooling flows generates structural and economies of scale that benefit all e-merchants, whether small or large.