One in five Belgian business leaders uses Odoo. A logical result for a publisher born in Belgium, whose headquarters and 1,800 employees are in Louvain-la-Neuve. Yet France is its second-largest market worldwide — built without a single local office until 2026. Odoo is opening in Lyon. E-invoicing becomes mandatory in September. The conditions for fast catch-up are in place.
The Belgian figure: the advantage of a publisher at home
Odoo is Belgian. Founded in 2002 in Louvain-la-Neuve by Fabien Pinckaers, the publisher has its headquarters, its development teams and 1,800 of its 7,400 employees worldwide there. This 20% penetration rate is no accident — it is the result of structural advantages that no other ERP publisher can claim in a national market:
- Physical proximity: headquarters and campus in Louvain-la-Neuve, at the heart of the Belgian economy
- Dense partner network: 127 certified integrators for 11 million inhabitants
- Natural reputation: Odoo is perceived as a local player, not a foreign publisher
- Continuous evangelization: 21 industry events organized in Belgium in 2025, weekly training in French and Dutch
- Anticipated compliance: PEPPOL e-invoicing natively integrated, mandatory in Belgium since January 2026
On April 2, 2026, at the Odoo–Partena Professional partnership announcement, Fabien Pinckaers put it bluntly: "We have transformed 20% of Belgian companies in seven years." This figure raises a simple question for France: are the conditions now in place to replicate that result?
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Belgian companies equipped with Odoo | 20 % |
| Odoo 2025 revenue | €650M (+42% ARR) |
| Estimated penetration in France* | < 1% |
| Active companies in France (INSEE 2024) | 4.2 million |
| Potential targets at 20% penetration | 840 000 |
| E-invoicing mandatory | September 2026 |
* Estimated share across the entire French economy. On the structured ERP market alone, Odoo's market share is estimated at around 4%.
Lyon 2026: Odoo finally sets up in France
Until the end of 2025, France was Odoo's second-largest market worldwide without any legal entity or local team. French growth relied entirely on the partner network and the inbound traffic generated by the product — which makes this ranking all the more remarkable.
In December 2025, Odoo announced the creation of Odoo France with an office in Lyon, in the Part-Dieu district, opened in May 2026. Joséphine Vander Linden, former Business Unit Manager Belgium, is taking over the leadership of this subsidiary. It is the first time the publisher has aligned France with the Belgian model: operational proximity, direct partner support, presence at local events. 800 jobs are announced within five years.
The regulatory trigger is well known: all French companies subject to VAT will have to issue and receive structured-format electronic invoices starting in September 2026. Hundreds of thousands of SMEs on Sage 50, Ciel or Excel will have to migrate — often in a hurry. Odoo, already PEPPOL-compliant in Belgium since January 2026, has a technical head start that its competitors do not.
"E-invoicing will become mandatory in September 2026: being present locally will allow us to best support our customers and partners through this key transition." — Sébastien Bruyr, CCO Odoo
Four arguments that close the objections
Regulatory compliance — The sales argument is ready, the product is compliant, the deadlines are known. Integrators who sign before the deadline will capture the emergency budgets. Those who wait will find the ground occupied.
Digital sovereignty — Odoo is based on an open core model: the Community edition is published under the LGPL license — free, redistributable, modifiable code. The Enterprise edition is under a proprietary commercial license, but its source code remains viewable and auditable. Concretely, a company can host Odoo on its own servers in France, audit what runs in-house, and depend on no American cloud. Against SAP, Oracle or Microsoft Dynamics, this is a real sovereignty argument — not a marketing one.
Price — Around €30/user/month, all apps included. SAP Business One starts at several thousand euros of license per user. The gap makes it possible to address the vast majority of the French economy — very small businesses and SMEs — that competitors structurally ignore.
AI at no extra cost in Odoo 19 — Automatic bank reconciliation, accounting assistant, product content generation. No extra option, no paid module. Where competitors charge for AI as a premium, Odoo includes it in the base license.
Where to focus efforts first
| Segment | Main argument | Potential |
|---|---|---|
| Trading / distribution | Sage/EBP migration, native e-invoicing, integrated inventory | Very high |
| Services & consulting | CRM, projects, time tracking, invoicing 100% native — immediate ROI, replacing disparate tools without third-party integration | Very high |
| Industry / ERP-MES (GPAO) | Native MRP, credible alternative to CEGID/Clipper | High |
| Retail / commerce | POS, e-commerce and customer loyalty 100% native — no third-party connector, no synchronization to manage | Very high |
| Public sector / social economy | Auditable code, French hosting possible, accessible pricing model | Long term |
10% by 2030: what it concretely means
Reaching 10% penetration in France by 2030 — a conservative scenario compared to Belgium — represents 420,000 equipped companies. At an average deal size of €3,500/year in licenses, the associated services market (integration, configuration, maintenance) structurally represents 2 to 3 times that amount, i.e. between €3 and €4.5 billion per year at steady state. This is not a marketing projection: it is the mechanical result of the French economy applied to the Belgian model.
Belgium took seven years with the publisher on site from the start. France has already built a significant market without a local office — the presence of Lyon will accelerate what was already under way.
The well-positioned integrator in 2026 combines three assets: established industry expertise, solid e-invoicing compliance, and the ability to demonstrate ROI in under six months. This profile is rare — and that is precisely where the competitive advantage lies.
Your Odoo project in France
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Sources: Forbes Belgique (04/02/2026), L'Avenir (04/02/2026), FrenchWeb (Dec. 2025), GoodTech (Dec. 2025), Odoo Blog (Sept. 2025).