Belgium

Inditex, the major clothing retail group from Spain, is now charging a fixed fee for online returns. The owner of brands such as Zara, Pull & Bear and Bershka is implementing this change in 30 countries. It wants to motivate customers to return items in brick-and-mortar stores.

123inkt, a Dutch e-tailer of print cartridges and office supplies, is for sale. The company is said to be worth at least 500 million euros. Since its last annual numbers, the company has grown significantly, sources say.

Online fashion marketplace Secret Sales is entering Belgium and the Netherlands with dedicated online shops. The websites will be managed by a local team in the Netherlands. It's the first step in the company's planned European expansion.

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.

Ecommerce giant Amazon is opening its first logistics centre in Belgium. The location is planned for the end of this year. Amazon recently opened a site in the Netherlands and announced plans for German expansion.

Coolblue, the Dutch electronics retailer, made a revenue of 2,3 billion euros in 2021. That is 18 percent more than the year before. The profits turned out lower in the past year. This is due to investments, according to Coolblue.

Bol.com made 5,5 billion euros in online sales last year. That is 27 percent more than the year before. The platform now has 49 thousand third party retailers. Together they generate more than half of the revenue.

Belgian postal company Bpost is starting a trial today. Customers can hand over returns to the postman, instead of bringing the package to the post office. The trial will take two months and it is set to happen in several Belgian cities.

The Belgian government is considering labor market reform measures that will give ecommerce companies opportunities to work between 20:00 and midnight. It seems that the reform will meet some discussion. Chairman of the Belgian Socialist Party Paul Magnette has said in an interview that he wants Belgium to be a country without ecommerce.

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.