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HEALTH

The French town where local businesses are creating an alternative to Amazon

During lockdown, hundreds of small business owners in a small town in western France gathered on a 100 percent local e-commerce platform with a double objective: staying afloat and fighting giants such as Amazon.

Published: 16 July 2020 15:44 CEST
The French town where local businesses are creating an alternative to Amazon
Angers, in western France, is the first city in the country to have its own online marketplace. Photo: AFP

Retail shops were hit hard by coronavirus – many were forced to close during the lockdown and even after they reopened many consumers turned to online shopping.

So more than 200 local businesses in the town of Angers decided to launch their own e-commerce platform to try and keep their stores afloat.

The project to create a local online marketplace in Angers had been in the pipeline for a couple of years already but everything accelerated when lockdown hit, according to the town’s official website.

Many shops had to close during lockdown in France. Photo: AFP

Angers shopping launched on April 20th and has made Angers the first city in France to have its own online marketplace.

Created by the Paris-based tech startup Wishibam in collaboration with Angers French Tech, the CCI Maine-et-Loire and the association “les Vitrines d’Angers”, it gave the opportunity to hundreds of local Angers business vendors to sell their products while their physical shops were closed.

Angers shopping also has the ambition of being ethical, environmentally friendly and human-focused, in sharp contrast to Amazon which has particularly been criticised in France.

French activists protest against Amazon on the Pont-du-Gard bridge in southern France on June 17, 2020. Photo: AFP. 

In fact at the beginning of lockdown, Amazon had to face several strikes and demonstrations by warehouse workers who complained about overcrowding and a lack of hand sanitiser.

The Versailles Court of Appeals in France then upheld a previous lower court decision banning Amazon from delivering non-essential items in the country during the covid-19 crisis.

Still, challenging Amazon won’t be easy as it amounts for 22 per cent of all online spending in France, with about 45 per cent of the population buying from it at least once a year, according to Kantar Insights France.

And even with the end of lockdown, online shopping remains a good alternative for small business owners who, for the most part, can only allow a few masked customers into their shop at once. 

By Olivia Sorrel-Dejerine

 

Member comments

  1. Angevin(e)s will be indignant to see their beautiful city (pop 150K plus) described as a ‘small town.’ Only a Parisian …

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HEALTH

How to make a doctor’s appointment in France

Booking a medical appointment in France can be time-consuming – especially if you are new to the country and are looking for an English-speaking doctor.

Published: 13 May 2024 16:52 CEST
How to make a doctor’s appointment in France

You do not need a carte vitale to book a doctor’s appointment in France – anyone who needs medical help while in the country is entitled to it, but you may not be entitled to any reimbursement if you are not part of the social security system.

Booking a GP’s appointment can be as simple as phoning up your friendly neighbourhood GP, or using an online service such as Doctolib. 

It helps a lot, if you have a médecin traitant – an attending GP, who adds you (and your family, if they can) to their list of patients. 

READ ALSO Explained: How to register with a doctor in France

It is not always easy to find one. Some parts of the country are short of GPs, which means doctors’ lists can fill up very quickly. But it is important that anyone who lives in France is registered with a named GP, especially if they have a carte vitale.

As well as being the main point of contact between patients and the medical profession in all its guises, it is financially responsible to be registered with a GP in France.

Reimbursement on consultations is typically 70 percent through the French healthcare system, but just 30 percent for anyone without a declared doctor. Meanwhile, top-up mutuelle health insurance companies usually require you to declare a médecin traitant and if you don’t, you may not be able to receive reimbursements on certain treatments.

Bear in mind, it is your responsibility to register with a local médecin traitant. But, even after you have done so, you can still make an appointment with any doctor, anywhere in France, and arrange specialist treatment, if you need it. 

READ ALSO 5 things to know about visiting a doctor in France

How do you go about making a GP appointment in France?

There are several options.

Some health centres – more often in larger towns and cities – operate a walk-in policy. But expect waits to be lengthy. Do not, however, assume that your GP operates a system like this.

You can phone for an appointment. This is another very common method. Your GP will have their own system for making appointments – which may even include something that looks, to the uninitiated, very much like a casual walk-in policy. 

Some may have an assistant to deal with booking appointments and other administration. Others may deal with appointments themselves, and may – for example – operate some sort of triage system based on voice messages from patients. 

What about online booking systems?

And many practitioners are now attached to websites, such as Doctolib. As of 2023, about half of all GP appointments in France were made using Doctolib.

READ ALSO How to use: French medical website Doctolib

Be aware that other online booking systems are available. Doctolib is one of the best known, but your GP may be attached to another system, like the health ministry approved site ‘LeMedecin.Fr’.

This website also has a feature where you can take an immediate online consultation with whatever doctor is available at that moment. By clicking ‘Consultez en vidéo maintenant’ you will be connected to the next doctor who is free. This option may involve an additional charge between €5-10 on top of the price of the consultation, and you will be expected to pay when booking.

If you have any trouble with either of these websites, you can go through the list of registered generalists per département on the ‘Ameli’ website. If you use this option, you will need to call the doctor to see if they are open or available for appointments.

In terms of wait times, online systems have helped to significantly reduce the delay between booking and getting an appointment.

According to a 2023 study by Doctolib, about half of all GP appointments were available within three days from the time of booking on their platform.

Similarly, you can use online platforms to check the medical professional’s qualifications and languages spoken, as well as filter based on the doctor’s English abilities. However, this should be taken with a grain of salt because not every medical professional with English listed on their Doctolib page speaks fluent English. 

An increasing number of doctorsoffer video consultations, known as télémédecine in France. This allows professionals – particularly those in more rural areas – to diagnose less serious conditions remotely. This type of consultation is usually only available from those medical practices that are attached to online booking systems. 

Some pharmacies have also begun offering walk-in télémedicine consults, using ‘Medadom’ machines. More information here.

What about specialists?

In France, you book your own consultations with specialists, even if you are referred by a doctor (your GP may offer a recommendation, but won’t always). The good news is that many specialists do use online booking services. Those that do not usually have assistants to take care of the appointments.

READ ALSO: Urgent care: How to get non-emergency medical treatment in France

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