Interview with Carole Cesbron, International Director of Cdiscount
Bring the best goods and services to the greatest possible number of people. This is the mission of Cdiscount, a leading e-commerce company in France with more than 20 million unique monthly visits to its website, 9 million active customers, more than 25,000 daily shipments and a turnover of 4 billion euros. Cdiscount strongly enters the Spanish market by launching its own international dropshipping service, aimed at eCommerce professionals willing to expand their product offering and capture new markets and customers. 
In this way, dropshippers can focus their efforts on other aspects of their business, without worrying about tasks such as supplier sourcing, product quality, stocks, logistics, or even customer service, since Cdiscount offers a complete solution.
1. What does the DropShipping service that Cdiscount has launched in Spain consist of?
We offer an "all-inclusive" solution for eCommerce professionals and, at the same time, we are able to adapt to your particular needs. We offer the possibility of incorporating and integrating all of our product catalog on your website.
In this way, when a consumer buys in the sales channel of our dropshipper, we prepare their order in our warehouses in France and send it directly to their home with a white label (only with a delivery note, without price, or Cdiscount logo).
In short, our partners focus on the "front" (SEO, SEA, marketing, campaigns, marketplace integration...) and we take care of the "back" (assortment, purchases, storage, logistics...).
We have developed our own platform which allows us to offer new services every year to offer our sellers 360 tools that allow them to manage their activity easily and efficiently: fulfillment, SEO marketing / Google Ads, API, coupons, affiliation, click and collect, etc.
2. How is the catalog that eCommerce professionals access and how can they implement it on their website?
We offer our customers a complete catalog with a wide assortment of more than 100,000 products divided into 15 categories: home equipment, DIY, sports, toys, computers, pets, electrical appliances, etc.
Likewise, the dropshipper can use a personalized support service to choose the assortment that best suits their business. We have the commercial support to help the client from an initial stage, with the integration of our catalog, until the end of the process with the follow-up of deliveries. 
3. What is the key to logistics in Cdiscount to be able to deliver products in just 3 days in more than 30 countries?
We ship our products to 30 countries in the European Union thanks to our logistics partner Chronopost Internacional, through which we deliver orders within the time frame of European marketplace standards. Specifically, our logistics system allows us to deliver to the customer's home within a maximum period of four business days.
We have 11 logistics warehouses spread throughout France for a total of 511,000m2 and this distribution allows us to be closer to end customers throughout the French territory. Each warehouse is organized according to the size and weight of the products to speed up and optimize their handling and preparation. We have made a large investment in the entire logistics chain because we believe that it is one of the key points of customer loyalty.
4. DropShipping is a trending service that different companies have opted for. What is the differential value of DropShipping that Cdiscount offers its customers?
I believe that what differentiates us from our direct competition is basically our European label and our experience in eCommerce, which has allowed us to position ourselves in the market as the first European marketplace. We are the French leader in eCommerce, with products stocked in France and able to deliver quickly in 30 EU countries. With our 20 years of experience in the sector, we have the largest assortment of major international brands.
Our know-how in logistics and strategic alliances allow us to efficiently deliver any type of product throughout the EU. In addition, the customer service offers unique support in all European languages so that our customers can resolve, quickly and easily, all the doubts that may arise in the period prior to and during delivery, as well as in the after-sales service.
Another of the differential values of DropShipping that Cdiscount offers is its business model, designed so that the customer does not have to pay an entry fee or monthly commissions. In this way, the levels of financial risk are reduced for those who contract the service, since they will only have to pay based on the sales obtained.
Finally, we accompany all types of companies on their digital path: freelancers, SMEs, large companies, expert companies or beginners... They all have a place in Cdiscount and we offer payment solutions adapted to each one of them. 
5. The crisis derived from Covid19 has forced companies to reinvent themselves and adapt to new distribution models. Cdiscount is presented in this context as an option to help all companies that want to expand their business, but what challenges has Cdiscount had to face internally due to the pandemic?
The crisis derived from Covid-19 has been an accelerator of digitization for both companies and consumers. Both have had to adapt to the digital environment for various reasons, such as making purchases and meeting basic needs or, in the case of some companies, trying to maintain their commercial activity during confinement. Thus, in two months, the eCommerce sector has gained several years of experience and growth.
Customer needs have changed substantially throughout the pandemic, thus modifying consumption trends. In the first phase of confinement, consumers demanded basic and essential products related to food, hygiene or childcare, as well as computer products to be able to work remotely or access virtual classes from home.
In a second phase, we have seen changes in behavior towards products that allow us to keep busy at home: toys, video games, DIY, sports or household equipment.
In this context, our teams have mobilized to meet the needs of customers and ensure delivery of orders. The confinement has been a challenge, especially for delivery times. However, thanks to close collaboration with our transportation partners, we have been able to keep deliveries on short notice.
It is worth noting Cdiscount's priority to protect its employees in the warehouses, through the implementation of strict sanitary measures as the main condition to guarantee mobility and a safe customer service.
On the other hand, Cdiscount has been involved in supplying masks for thousands of freelancers and SMEs so that they can continue developing their commercial activity, guaranteeing the protection of their employees. In the same way, we have accelerated and simplified the onboarding processes in our marketplace for SMEs.
6. Cdiscount has been characterized since its inception by its firm commitment to transformation. What are the lines of innovation that the company is working on to implement in the medium term?
Indeed, for more than 20 years, Cdiscount has always been characterized by its ability to transform and innovate to adapt to the needs of its customers. Our goal is to facilitate everyone's access to the best products and services. Therefore, innovation is the heart of our activity.
Opening our marketplace in 2011 was a strategic success that has allowed us to become a recognized technology company in the sector. Proof of this is the team of more than 800 computer engineers who make up our staff.
We firmly believe that sharing ideas, experiences, having an open mind and collaborating are the engines of continuous improvement, especially in times of crisis and uncertainty. In this sense, the creation of our two incubators and our open innovation policy have allowed us to collaborate with hundreds of start-ups in the last three years. Likewise, Cdiscount continues to innovate to improve and optimize customer access to the web through digital devices. like smartphones.
Finally, Cdiscount's commitment to innovation is also reflected in the more than 30 categories of products available on the website and the proposal of a wide range of services that range from travel to mobile rates, through energy (gas, electricity) omutual health.
7. What are the trends to consider in the marketplace industry in a post-Covid environment?
With the health crisis, consumers have naturally turned to eCommerce to make all their purchases of food or other products.
The crisis has also substantially changed the day-to-day life of French companies. We work directly with more than 5,000 SMEs that have been able to maintain their online activity when their physical sales channels closed. eCommerce was a really fundamental pillar during the confinement.
At the same time, I think that in that hard time, we have seen an awareness of the environment by the French. Once again, we do everything we can to reduce the impact of our activity on the environment, not only at the logistics level, but also by offering our customers a more responsible alternative consumption with Made in France products or second-hand products.
8. Sharing knowledge and being updated on market trends is essential to continue growing. What value do you consider a B2B ecosystem has for managers such as Dir&Ge?
For me, the values of openness, exchange and support are what should accompany us every day. At Cdiscount, we try to follow them every day with our partners. We believe in an open, responsible, inclusive and supportive model.
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