eCommerce market in Belgium

Belgium is the 41st largest market for eCommerce with a predicted revenue of US$7,657.9 million by 2024, placing it ahead of New Zealand. Revenue is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 5.4%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$9,467.4 million by 2028. With an expected increase of 6.9% in 2024, the Belgian eCommerce market contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 10.4% in 2024. Like in Belgium, global eCommerce sales are expected to increase over the next years. Seven markets are considered by ECDB within the Belgian eCommerce market. Hobby & Leisure is the largest market and accounts for 25.3% of the Belgian eCommerce revenue. It is followed by Electronics with 21.3%, Fashion with 18.1%, Furniture & Homeware with 11.5%, Care Products with 9.2%, DIY with 8.8%, and Grocery with the remaining 5.8%.

The online share refers to the proportion of the retail volume that is transacted via the Internet. It includes purchases via desktop PC, tablet or smartphone, both via website or app. Only retail of physical goods is taken into account. In the Belgian retail market, the online share is 10.1% and will increase by an average of 7.1% to 13.3% by 2028.

The biggest player in the Belgian eCommerce market is bol.com. The store had a revenue of US$890.4 million in 2023. Store rankings include every store that generates revenue in Belgium. These stores can either have a national focus and only sell in their main country or operate on a global scale. For this evaluation, only revenue created in Belgium was considered.

The Belgian eCommerce market in 2023 in terms of offered payment methods is fragmented and dominated by a few providers with VISA (Cards) covering the largest share with 93.8% of all online stores checked. Other offered payment methods in the Belgian eCommerce market in 2023 are Mastercard (Cards) with 93.3%, PayPal (E-wallets) with 70.0%, and Bancontact (E-wallets) with 68.8%. With 45.5% Bank transfer/cash in advance (Bank transfer) has already a significantly smaller coverage compared to VISA (Cards).

Despite Bpost's dominant position with 44.9% of online stores opting for its services, the Belgian eCommerce market in 2023 remains diverse and competitive. Several other shipping service providers, including PostNL, DPD, DHL, and UPS (United Parcel Service), hold smaller but significant shares, contributing to a dynamic and fragmented market.