Belgium

The biggest online store in the Netherlands and Belgium, Bol.com, saw a growth of 15 million visitors per month on the Dutch website compared to Q3 last year. The Belgian website had 2 million extra visitors. With a steady growth of selling partners on the platform, the product range grew with 42 percent in one year.

Active Ants, an e-fulfillment company from the Netherlands, has opened its first distribution center in Belgium. The site is located in Willebroek, a town between Antwerp and Brussels. The Bpost subsidiary is now eying international expansion.

Hopr, the first online-only supermarket from Belgium, will start its activities this Monday. It will first test in the city of Hasselt, but the goal is to become available to the whole of Belgium by 2026.

Ecommerce in Belgium was worth 10.26 billion euros in 2020. That's a decrease of 10 percent compared to the situation one year before. Of course, the decline has everything to do with the coronavirus outbreak. Belgians bought far fewer services online, but ordered more products.

Budbee, a last-mile delivery startup from Sweden, will soon become available in Belgium. The logistics tech company has announced it will start in Flanders and Brussels. Later on, it will also expand to Wallonia.

Dutch fulfillment company Active Ants is growing fast. In October 2020, the company opened its second fulfillment center in the Netherlands, and the opening of two other sites are already planned. Ecommerce News Europe spoke with managing partner Jeroen Dekker about their ambitions.

This year, 72 percent of Belgians make online purchases. Of all Belgians who are active online, eight in ten have bought something online in the past year. And 94 percent say they will do so in the future.

Belgian supermarket chain Colruyt has launched its own fresh food delivery service, called Rose Mary. The service enables customers to order ready-made meals. For now, Rose Mary only serves consumers in the Brussels region.

SwipBox is partnering in Europe again. This time it's with Belgian logistics provider Bpost. The two have teamed up to launch a network of parcel lockers that are battery driven and Bluetooth enabled. The first step is a pilot project in the Belgian city of Mechelen.

Shavatar is the name of a 3D avatar tool that should lead to fewer returns in the online fashion industry. With Shavatar, consumers can create their own avatars based on a few parameters. The tool then suggests the right size and fit of any given fashion item.

Neleman, the online store of Dutch winemaker and merchant Derrick Neleman, is expanding further across Europe. The omnichannel company will soon open online shops in Belgium, Germany and Spain.

Bol.com will start with a French-speaking online shop in June this year. For, the Dutch ecommerce giant this will mark the first time its online store isn't in Dutch. It also means Bol.com will be accessible for all consumers in Belgium.

Belgian ecommerce broke all national records in 2019. Last year, Belgian online shoppers spent 11.46 billion euros, which is 900 million euros more than during the year before. Belgians shopped, on average, 13.4 times online, which led to a total of 112.9 million online purchases.

Online stores in Belgium have generated a total turnover of 8.2 billion euros in 2019. This is an increase of 17 percent compared to the situation one year before. One out of every four euros generated by Belgian online shops came from foreign shoppers.

Coolblue has generated total sales of 1.48 billion euros last year, which is an increase of 10 percent compared to the situation one year before. Its adjusted EBITDA increased by 28 percent to 34.5 million euros.