E-commerce is increasingly necessary for businesses

No offense to Paul Magnet, the Belgian consumer has become very familiar with e-commerce. In one year, sales of Belgian e-stores jumped 33% to reach €11.7 billion in 2021. The number of visits to sales sites is progressing significantly. In 2021, more than 150 million transactions were recorded, up 39% from the previous year and 2.5 times more than in 2017 (60 million).

These numbers come from the sixth edition of SafeShops.be’s e-commerce barometer, the Belgian e-commerce association. To whom it concerns relying on data from online merchants, not consumers, Through transactions listed by payment service providers.

Selling online has become a necessity, and retailers are starting to realize this. In 2021, an additional 8,500 online stores will open, bringing the total to 56,642 sales locations (+17.5%). It is quite logical that these are mainly micro or small companies (less than 100,000 or less than 1 million euros in revenue).

This is it Far from the 65% jump recorded in 2020, But this was favored due to the restrictions imposed by the health crisis. “With the Covid pandemic, we have gained 5 years in the evolution of online commerce,” sums up Greet Dekocker, General Manager of SafeShops.

Belgium is a country of small and medium businesses, and this is reflected in e-commerce. 1455 medium and large stores (turnover of more than 1 million and more than 10 million euros), which account for only 2.6% of the total, account for 84% of the turnover (9.8 billion euros). But The growth of e-commerce relates to all kinds of companies.

“These results are remarkable, but they only reflect part of the development since then The barometer does not take into account the sales of Belgian companies using the markets Major platforms (bol.com, Amazon, etc.), Greet Dekocker confirms.

If the Belgian is not reluctant to shop outside the borders, our neighbors also come to look at the Belgian sites. In 2021, purchases made from abroad accounted for 21% of the volume transactions. A percentage indicating restart after 2020 brakes (15%) but not up to 2019 performance (25%). It is the French (38%), the Dutch (37.5%) and to a lesser extent the Germans (11%) who buy in Belgian online stores.

Customers mostly pay for their purchases with a debit card (72.9%), primarily via Bancontact (61.1%) who notice this for the first times, the number of mobile phone payments exceeds the number of card payments. Note the emergence of online payments using electronic meal vouchers or food checks and deferred payments, a common practice in the Netherlands.

E-commerce is becoming more mature. The show that attracts barge gets better. Major players generate between 25% and 30% of their turnover online. And the market average is about 20%,” says Grete Decocker.

The gradual end to restrictions related to Covid-19, according to her, indicates the presence of a More growth in 2022. “Services accounted for only 37% of the transaction volume in 2021, while before the crisis we were more by 45-55. This year, the recovery in travel should encourage further growth.”