Hobby & Leisure market in Belgium

The Belgian Hobby & Leisure eCommerce market is predicted to reach US$2,478.6 million by 2024 and accounts for 25.3% of the total eCommerce market in Belgium. It is expected to increase over the next years. The expected compound annual growth rate for the next four years (CAGR 2024-2028) will be 10.4%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$3,681.6 million by 2028. Within the Hobby & Leisure market ECDB considers the following twelve sub-markets: Media, Sports Equipment, Pet Supplies, Stationery, Crafts & Art Supplies, Toys, Bullion & Precious Metal, Camping & Adventure, Musical Instruments, Flowers & Gifts, Other Hobby & Leisure, Erotic & Adult, and Smoking Supplies.

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 Hobby & Leisure retail market, the online share is 12.7% and will increase by an average of 11.1% to 19.4% by 2028.

With sales in the Belgian Hobby & Leisure market, bol.com generated a revenue of US$235.1 million in 2023, which means it is the leading online store in this market. The Hobby & Leisure ranking of Belgium is based on all online stores that generated sales in this market in 2023. Due to a country- and category-dependent approach, both national and international online stores can be part of the ranking. The graph shows a filtered revenue. It only includes national sales within the respective market.

The Belgian Hobby & Leisure 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 92.3% of all online stores checked. Other offered payment methods in the Belgian Hobby & Leisure eCommerce market in 2023 are Mastercard (Cards) with 90.8%, Bancontact (E-wallets) with 75.4%, and PayPal (E-wallets) with 69.2%. With 52.3% Bank transfer/cash in advance (Bank transfer) has already a significantly smaller coverage compared to VISA (Cards).

Despite Bpost's dominant position with 36.5% of online stores opting for its services, the Belgian Hobby & Leisure eCommerce market in 2023 remains diverse and competitive. Several other shipping service providers, including DHL, DPD, PostNL, and GLS, hold smaller but significant shares, contributing to a dynamic and fragmented market.