Ecommerce in Belgium: €11.7 billion in 2021

Ecommerce in Belgium was worth 11.7 billion euros in 2021. This is a growth of 33 percent when compared to the situation one year earlier. At the end of the year, a total of 56.642 online stores were registered in Belgium.

These figures are from the sixth E-commerce Barometer by SafeShops.be, a Belgian ecommerce association. The report gives more insight into ecommerce in Belgium. The figures are based on transaction details from online stores that were collected by payment providers.

Revenue growth of 33%

Belgian online stores generated a total of 11.7 billion euros in revenue last year. This was a strong growth when compared to the situation in 2020 (33 percent). This was accompanied by a growth of 39 percent in the amount of transaction, coming to a total of over 150 million.

‘These are remarkable results.’

“We expected growth figures, but these are remarkable results”, said Greet Dekocker, Managing Direct at SafeShops.be. “Not all sectors have returned to full speed since the outbreak of the pandemic, but we can now conclude that there is no slowdown in growth so far. The changed online consumer behavior continues and is even growing. This is reflected in both the transaction volume as well as the number of transactions.”

Mostly small-sized enterprises

Entrepreneurs have noticed the change in consumer behavior, because the total number of online stores that are registered in Belgium grew with 17.5 percent in 2021. Most new online businesses are operating as micro and small-sized enterprises. Belgian ecommerce is dominated by these businesses, as they make up 97 percent of all online businesses.

However, medium and large-sized businesses generate no less than 84 percent of the total revenue in Belgian ecommerce (9.8 billion euros). This is a total of 1.455 businesses.

‘Medium and large businesses generate 84% of the total revenue in Belgian ecommerce.’

Export is growing

In the midst of the pandemic, cross-border transactions decreased to 15 percent. The latest report shows that 21 percent of total transactions are cross-border, meaning that more foreign shoppers are finding their way to Belgian online stores. Most of these transactions are made by French (38 percent) and Dutch (37.5) consumers shopping at Belgian stores.

Bancontact still most popular payment method

No less than 61 percent of all online purchases are paid with Bancontact, the most popular payment method in Belgium. Google Pay and BNPL solutions have also entered the market, but their share is much smaller.