Becom announced the results of the new E-commerce Barometer. The data is based on information from the online retail sector itself, derived from transaction data provided by payment providers.
Transaction volume rises to more than 13 billion euros
In 2022, Belgian online stores recorded more than 165 million transactions, an increase of 10% compared to 2021. When converted to revenue, this amounts to 13.8 billion euros.
“The results indicate that more transactions were recorded than in 2021, which specifically means that more was sold. It is interesting to note that a 18% increase in revenue was achieved by the same number of online stores.” says Greet Dekocker, Managing Director of BeCommerce. “We are seeing interesting growth in the micro and small segment, which grew by 63% in volume compared to the previous year.”
Medium and large online stores account for the lion's share of e-commerce revenue. They account for 78% of the transaction volume, or 10.7 billion euros.
Continued growth of the micro segment
In the segment of micro and small online stores—which account for 97% of the total number of Belgian online stores—it is primarily the small online stores that are growing in number, by more than 20% compared to 2021. SMEs are performing well, as the number of medium-sized online stores is also rising by 26%.
This figure indicates that e-commerce still has a bright future ahead in Belgium. The growth in the small- and medium-sized online store segment points to continued expansion of online stores, leading to an increasingly mature Belgian online landscape.
Highlights of 2022
The top day of 2022 was Black Friday. On that day, 645,195 transactions took place in a single day, with Belgian online stores recording total sales of 61.4 million euros. This trend continued on Cyber Monday as well, with sales of 60 million euros. Another peak is the first day of the summer sales, when revenue of 55.1 million euros was recorded.
The Netherlands Leads the Way
Foreign online shoppers continue to find their way to Belgian online stores. At 20%, the transaction volume from abroad remains stable (2021: 21%). It is primarily Dutch shoppers (36.5%), followed by French shoppers (26.5%), who make the most purchases from Belgian online stores.
Online shoppers from the United Kingdom are also gradually finding their way back to Belgium. The number of transactions from the UK has more than doubled.
This is good news, according to Greet Dekocker: “We know that Belgian consumers still like to shop outside Belgium, but within Europe. At the same time, we are seeing a countertrend: foreign consumers are generating more sales volume at Belgian online stores. This is also reflected in the decline in our trade deficit over the past five years.”.
Services Continue to Drive Growth
The E-commerce Barometer shows that the ‘services’ segment offered by Belgian online stores accounted for the largest share in 2022 in terms of both revenue (51.9%) and volume, but not in terms of the number of transactions (44.6%).
The results of the Market Monitor for the first quarter of 2023 reflect the same trend. E-commerce spending in the first quarter rose by 9% compared to 2022, reaching 4 billion euros. Of that amount, 52% went toward services.
The number of online shoppers remained stable at 7.2 million. Together, they accounted for 42.5 million online purchases, representing a value of 4 billion euros.
Compared to the same period last year, the Market Monitor reports a decline in volume for a number of product groups, the largest being Home & Garden (-22.8%), clothing (-14%), and shoes and accessories (-13.8%). In the ‘services’ category—which includes tickets for attractions and events, media, and entertainment—purchases in the first months of 2023 exceeded those of last year.
“We note that the growth is occurring primarily in the service sector. Traditional ‘best-sellers’ such as tickets and travel continue to perform well, but telecommunications and insurance are also increasingly being purchased online.” Greet Dekocker continues. “Also noteworthy is the increase in the number of online purchases for public transportation. This could be attributed to the high energy prices at the beginning of this year.”
By comparing the data from the E-commerce Barometer and the Market Monitor, Becom gains a comprehensive picture of the Belgian online landscape. The E-commerce Barometer focuses on what and how much Belgian online stores sell. The Market Monitor provides insights into what Belgian consumers buy.
“Thanks to these insights, we now have—for the first time—a complete picture of the Belgian online landscape. As an industry association, this provides us with particularly valuable information for both Belgian online entrepreneurs and Belgian online shoppers. There is still a great deal of potential in Belgian e-commerce, and we are fully committed to realizing it.. ”. As a result, we can also see that our trade deficit has fallen dramatically over the past five years," concludes Greet Dekocker.
