Consumer Credit as a Marketing Tool: The French Experience in European and Transatlantic Comparison, 1950s–1960s

Abstract

Effosse presents an overview of consumer credit in postwar France. By the 1950s, competitive pricing and purchase incentives had become crucial stimulants for demand. To persuade large sections of the proverbially thrifty French public to buy on credit was, however, a formidable challenge. Focusing on Cetelem, which commercialized hire-purchase schemes in the electronic goods sector, the chapter examines the marketing strategies Cetelem adopted as a new player in the consumer credit field. These were primarily targeted at women, a group hitherto neglected in France by the purveyors of consumer credit.