Colissimo is La Poste's standard parcel service and the default way parcels reach French shoppers, so if you sell into France, its statuses, usually in French, will end up on your tracking pages. This guide translates each Colissimo status into plain English, in the order a parcel normally moves through them, and flags the few that need action.
Short answer: "Votre colis est pris en charge" means Colissimo has taken the parcel in and the journey has started. "En cours d'acheminement" means in transit between sorting centres. "En cours de livraison" means out for delivery today. "Livré" means delivered. "Mis à disposition" means it is waiting at a pickup point, and "Avisé" means a delivery was attempted and a notice left. Most confusion comes from French-language statuses reaching non-French customers, not from anything being wrong.
Colissimo statuses at a glance
| Status (French) | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Pris en charge | Taken in by Colissimo | None |
| En cours d'acheminement | In transit between centres | None |
| En cours de livraison | Out for delivery today | None |
| Livré | Delivered | Check if not received |
| Mis à disposition | Available at a pickup point | Collect within the window |
| Avisé | Attempted, notice left | Choose redelivery or pickup |
| Retour à l'expéditeur | Returned to sender | Contact the store |
The normal Colissimo sequence
Votre colis est pris en charge par La Poste. Colissimo has taken the parcel into its network. This is the real start of the tracked journey. Before this, a label may exist without the parcel moving.
En cours d'acheminement. In transit, moving between La Poste sorting centres. This repeats through the journey and can go quiet for a day, which is normal, especially on longer or international routes.
En cours de livraison. Out for delivery: with the carrier for delivery today. See what "out for delivery" means.
Livré. Delivered, sometimes with a note on where or to whom. If the customer does not have it, see package says delivered but not received.
The statuses that need action
Mis à disposition (dans un point retrait). The parcel is waiting at a pickup point, often after a failed home attempt or because pickup delivery was chosen. There is a holding window, typically around two weeks, before it returns to sender, so surface it clearly on your tracking page.
Avisé / Avis de passage. A delivery was attempted and a notice left. The customer usually chooses redelivery or collection. Messaging them at this scan prevents avoidable WISMO tickets.
Retour à l'expéditeur. Returned to sender, unclaimed, refused, or undeliverable. This should open your returns flow automatically so the refund or reship decision happens while the parcel is still moving.
French statuses, non-French customers (the merchant view)
If your tracking page shows "en cours d'acheminement" to a shopper in Sweden or Germany, you have created a support ticket. Colissimo's raw feed is in French and words milestones differently from Chronopost (La Poste's express sibling), DPD, and every carrier you use elsewhere. Carriers emit anywhere from 10 to 115 distinct statuses each.
Pango normalizes Colissimo's statuses, along with Chronopost, GLS, DHL and 100+ other carriers, into one clean set of milestones in the customer's language, so a French carrier reads clearly to an international shopper, and an attempted delivery or pickup-point hold triggers a proactive message. It is one multi-carrier setup instead of a per-carrier translation project.
The bottom line
Colissimo's statuses are standard once translated: taken in, in transit, out for delivery, delivered, or held at a pickup point. The real work for a brand selling into France is making those French statuses readable for every customer and actionable for the operation. See how it works on the post-purchase operations platform and book a demo.
