Belgium

During the first three months of this year, 7.4 million Belgians made 23 million purchases online. While doing this, they spent 2.73 billion euros, which is an increase of 12 percent compared to the same period last year.

Five online retailers from Belgium have created a new shopping event, called Belgian Friday. According to the organizers, this day is meant as a local answer to Black Friday. Belgian Friday will take place this Friday and the discounts last until the Monday after Pentecost, which is an official holiday in many European countries.

Coolblue, a major omnichannel retailer from the Netherlands, saw its total revenues grow to 1.2 billion euros last year. That's an increase of 38 percent compared to the year before. The company's net profit increased slightly, from 8.9 million euros to 9.1 million euros.

ManoMano, a European online marketplace specialized in DIY & gardening, closed last year with a global turnover of 250 million euros, which is an increase of 180 percent compared to 2016, when the French company generated a turnover of 90 million euros. Its UK turnover doubled year-over-year.

The online stores of Coolblue, Viata and Luxury for Men have been rewarded with the Twinkle Awards. Coolblue won an award for being the best omnichannel player in Belgium, while Viata went home with an award for best pure player. Luxury for Men was rewarded with an award for best starter.

The top 10 of largest online stores in Belgium are being dominated by foreign players. The entire top five is filled with Dutch, German and American online stores. The first Belgian ecommerce company can be found on the sixth place.

Ecommerce in Belgium was worth 4.9 billion euros during the first six months of this year and the prediction is the online retail industry will surpass the 10 billion euros mark for the first time ever at the end of this year.

Dutch postal operator PostNL has launched Flora@Home, a new solution for online retailers to easily sell fresh flowers and plants online. With Flora@Home, retailers can improve the product offering on their websites, while PostNL takes care of almost everything.

Zalando has launched its curated shopping service Zalon in Belgium. The free personal shopping service for men and women offers its customers personalized advice from fashion experts. Zalon by Zalando is now available in five European countries.

Ecommerce in Belgium was worth 9.1 billion euros in 2016. Last year, consumers spent 10 percent more on products and services online than they did in 2015. The online share of total retail has increased from 14 to 16 percent.

Maternia, the biggest contact lens retailer in the Czech Republic, has expanded its online reach in Europe. The company opened its online store in Belgium, which is now the 15th country in Europe where Maternia is active.

The Netherlands and Belgium have a combined population of 28 million people, a gross domestic product of 1.08 trillion euros and English is spoken widely. The two countries offer an attractive market to international retailers looking to expand into new territories. A new guidebook helps companies who want to sell online in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Dutch food-order company Takeaway.com has sold its British website to its competitor Just Eat. The news follows just a few weeks after Takeaway.com acquired the Benelux businesses from Just Eat. Both companies couldn't get a grip of the local market: Takeaway.com had trouble conquering the UK, while its presence was too strong in the Netherlands and Belgium for Just Eat to compete there.

Dutch omnichannel retailer Coolblue is almost ready to enter more European markets. The company is already active in Belgium, where it will open more physical stores, but is working on expanding to other countries. "The last hurdle is multilingualism."

Bol.com, the biggest online retailer in the Netherlands, is moving from being a traditional ecommerce player into a selling platform and fulfilment partner for third-party retailers. In an interview with Belgian newspaper De Tijd, managing director Daniël Ropers compared Bol.com with Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba. "We are building a network of expertise, retailers, services and products."