A second chance for divorcees was what French online dating agencies proposed when Marc Simoncini entered the industry.

Today things are very different. In five years, Mr Simoncini has lifted taboos, attracted younger customers and transformed internet dating into a popular pastime for a liberated nation seeking excitement.

Now the founder of Meetic, the French site, hopes to do the same thing in Britain.

“We’re going to shake things up a bit,” says Mr Simoncini, who purchased DatingDirect, Britain’s biggest online dating firm, for £27.3 million in January. In a bid to boost the firm’s turnover, he is promising massive advertising, instant messaging for British customers and a connection to Meetic’s 28 million users throughout Europe.

Above all, Mr Simoncini is pledging the Gallic approach to romance, which has helped to turn online dating into a social phenomenon in France and Meetic into Europe’s market leader.

“There are only two philosophies in this business,” Mr Simoncini, 43, said. “The American philosophy and the French one. The Americans try to sell you love. We sell une rencontre [an encounter] and I don’t care what happens afterwards.”

The result, he claims, is the widest customer base of any internet agency in the world, with some of Meetic’s users looking for “ le grand amour” and others looking for “ un son d’une soirée”.

“Some want sex. Et alors? I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t know of any great love affair these days which didn’t start with sex.”

Mr Simoncini believes that he has caught the mood of a fast-changing society that has moved beyond old-fashioned notions of courtship.

“We’ve managed to make online dating something that is lighter and more fun,” he said. “Before we arrived, people were ashamed to admit they were looking for a partner on the internet.

“Now, they talk about it freely in France. It’s open and accepted. We’ve even entered popular language. The 30-year-olds say they are going to do a Meetic between 7pm and 9pm and then go to the nightclub afterwards.”

The figures appear to back him up. The average age of the group’s French customers is 32, compared to 41 for online dating agencies in Britain and an average of 46 worldwide.

Mr Simoncini can also boast the noteworthy achievement of having attracted as many women as men on to his site — “and that’s vital. It’s very complicated. They only come through word of mouth.”

He says that tight control of Meetic’s corporate image, along with careful monitoring of the site’s content, were the keys to the feminisation of his clientãle; this, itself, was the key to success.

The group, which has acquired businesses in China, Brazil and the Netherlands, recorded profits growing by 77 per cent in 2006 to €10.1 million, whilst annual sales have risen from €1.1 million in 2002 to €79 million last year.

Mr Simoncini claims to have struck another blow with the purchase of DatingDirect “at a very good price” after his main competitor, match.com, of the United States, made what he described as “an enormous blunder” and failed to submit a bid. But will Meetic’s methods work in Britain? “We’ll have to see.” Mr Simoncini admitted that he is unsure whether Britons will respond positively to an approach summed up by Meetic’s French slogan: “ Les rãgles du jeu ont changés [The rules of the game have changed]”.

“Will we get younger users? And will they want to talk to other Europeans? I don’t know. The Americans certainly wouldn’t go for our way of doing things. But are the British more like the French or more like the Americans? That’s what we are going to find out.”

The answer to Mr Simoncini’s question will determine Meetic’s fortunes on the British side of the Channel.

Romance by numbers

15m
single people in France

80%
Meetic’s market share in France

€29
monthly cost of a Meetic subscription

400,000
paying subscribers in France

€243m
Value of online dating industry in Europe

€485m
Value of online dating industry in the United States

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