Ecommerce in Belgium: €10.67 billion in 2018

Ecommerce in Belgium was worth 10.67 billion euros in 2018. That’s an increase of almost 6 percent compared to the situation one year before. Belgian consumers have not only spent more money online, they also shopped more often: last year, the average Belgian shopper bought something online over 11 times.

In 2017, the average number of online purchases per Belgian consumer was 10.3, the latest data from Belgian ecommerce association BeCommerce show. Online shoppers in this Western European country mostly buy products like toys, clothes and consumer electronics online.

Fast-growing online product categories in Belgium

The product category ‘toys’ saw its online market share increase by 11 percentage points last year, while ‘sports’,  ‘telecom’,  ‘media & entertainment’ and ‘clothing’ all increased by 3 percentage points during the same period.

‘Belgium will grow to situation of the Netherlands’

The growth rate of ecommerce in Belgium is somewhat slowing down, but still the online retail industry will keep on growing, BeCommerce CEO Sofie Geeroms says. “When you compare our situation with those of the neighboring countries, we are still lagging behind. But Belgian retailers such as Schoenen Torfs, JBC and Standaard Boekhandel are investing thoroughly. We will grow towards the level of, let’s say, the Netherlands”, she claims.

Bancontact and credit card popular payment methods

When consumers in Belgium need to pay for the things they buy online, they mostly use Bancontact or credit card. Bancontact is the most popular online payment method in Belgium, as 68 percent of all purchases were completed using Bancontact. At the same time, 30 percent of the money spent online for these purchases was paid using this option.

The credit card is another favorite payment method in Belgium: it’s used less than Bancontact, but consumers use the credit card for bigger amounts, as 42 percent of the money spent online was paid using this option.