DUBLIN: The "Belgium B2C Ecommerce Market Size & Forecast by Value and Volume Across 80+ KPIs - Databook Q4 2025 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The ecommerce market in Belgium is expected to grow by 6.4% annually, reaching US$21.85 billion by 2025.
The ecommerce market in the country has experienced robust growth during 2020-2024, achieving a CAGR of 8.6%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2025 to 2029. By the end of 2029, the ecommerce market is projected to expand from its 2024 value of US$20.54 billion to approximately US$26.99 billion.
This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the ecommerce industry in Belgium offering comprehensive coverage of both overall and ecommerce markets. It includes more than 80+ KPIs, covering gross merchandise value, gross merchandise volume, and average value per transaction.
Competitive Landscape
Over the next 2-4 years, the competitive landscape in Belgium is likely to sharpen further. Foreign and large regional players will continue to raise service and delivery expectations, pushing smaller local players to invest in or partner with logistics, payments, and UX. Payment localisation (Bancontact, mobile checkout) and sustainable delivery options (parcel lockers, multi-option shipping) will become hygiene factors.
Smaller local players may differentiate via niche verticals or hybrid offline-online models, but they will face margin pressure as larger players benefit from scale and infrastructure investment. The M&A environment may become more selective, with mid-sized acquisitions focusing on capability (logistics tech, sustainability, omnichannel fulfilment) rather than pure volume growth. Amazon's investment in Belgium signals that infrastructure plays (fulfilment, same-day, returns) will become competitive battlegrounds.
Current State of the Market
Belgium's e-commerce sector is moderately concentrated and highly influenced by cross-border players. According to recent commentary, the dominant online merchants serving Belgian consumers include Zalando (Germany), Amazon (United States), and bol.com and Coolblue (both in the Netherlands). Local Belgian e-retailers exist (for example, Vanden Borre and Schoenen Torfs), but they do not dominate the top tier. The competitive intensity is elevated by the fact that more than half of Belgian online shoppers buy from foreign webshops, thereby subjecting local players to international benchmarks for speed, pricing, and service.
Key Players and New Entrants
- Established actors: bol.com, Amazon. Coolblue, Zalando, and Be are among the most visible retailers to Belgian consumers. Local specialist players: Vanden Borre (electronics), ZEB (fashion), and Bel&Bo (apparel) continue to hold niche or regional brand equity.
- New entrants/growth challengers: Start-ups and scale-ups in Belgium are emerging (e.g., a wider pool of 33+ e-commerce companies listed in a database). These younger players often adopt agile models (marketplace aggregation, direct-to-consumer, niche verticals). Cross-border marketplace extension: International players continue to invest locally, raising the competitive bar for logistics, delivery speed and UX for Belgian consumers.
Recent Launches, Mergers, and Acquisitions
- A Belgian market transaction: Zimmo Group, a Belgian prop-tech marketplace, recently acquired the scale-up Smooved to consolidate its local footprint. M&A market context: In Belgium overall, M&A deal flow has slowed, with deal counts and average values dropping in 2023 and into 2024, reflecting broader macro headwinds (interest rates, uncertainty).
- Strategic investments: In 2025, Amazon reportedly plans to invest approximately €1 billion in Belgium through to 2027 to expand its local infrastructure and deliver same-day services. While not exclusively e-commerce retail, the combination of logistics/fulfilment investments (parcel locker networks, delivery partnerships) reflects the broader competitive infrastructure arms race.
Key Trends and Drivers
Rebase growth on services-led online spending
- Belgium's e-commerce growth is now driven more by services (travel, tickets, digital services) than by physical goods. Recent sector reporting shows that in 2024, roughly a quarter of total consumer spending in Belgium occurred online, with package travel, airline tickets, and accommodation already accounting for a larger share of online spending than clothing and general retail. This shifts the centre of gravity of "e-commerce" from pure retail into travel and experience-led categories.
- The recovery and normalization of travel and events post-COVID are redirecting discretionary budgets back to holidays and leisure, and these categories are overwhelmingly booked online. High digital penetration and habit formation mean Belgian consumers are comfortable buying complex services (dynamic travel packages, airline ancillaries, concert tickets) online, not just consumer goods.
- Airlines, tour operators and large OTAs have invested heavily in digital self-service and dynamic pricing, nudging consumers toward online rather than offline intermediaries. E-commerce KPIs for Belgium will be increasingly sensitive to travel and events cycles; any volatility in tourism or transport will show up quickly in "e-commerce" growth.
- Retailers of physical goods will need to compete for share of wallet against travel and leisure, not just other retailers. They may seek more partnerships with travel platforms or loyalty ecosystems. Policy debates and industry lobbying around "e-commerce" will increasingly feature airlines, travel intermediaries, and ticketing platforms, as their share of online turnover continues to rise.
Compete in a structurally cross-border marketplace
- Belgium is structurally a cross-border e-commerce market. Recent Belgian and Benelux-focused analyses indicate that cross-border purchases account for roughly one-third of total Belgian online turnover, and that more than half of Belgian online shoppers buy from foreign webshops. Leading platforms include Dutch and German marketplaces and retailers such as bol.com, Amazon (including amazon.com.be) and Coolblue, which dominate the traffic podium in Belgium.
- Geography and language make it easy for Belgian consumers to shop in Dutch, French and German webshops, so neighbouring-country sites feel "local". Price sensitivity and assortment gaps in some categories (e.g., fashion, electronics) encourage consumers to compare across borders where large marketplaces can offer broader ranges and promotions.
- Domestic merchants have historically been slower to scale on marketplaces, leaving foreign merchants over-represented on major platforms serving Belgian consumers. Cross-border will remain a defining feature of Belgian e-commerce, not a niche; foreign marketplaces will continue to capture a disproportionate share of growth unless domestic sellers expand their presence on those marketplaces.
- Competitive benchmarks for delivery time, returns and customer service will increasingly be set at a Benelux or EU level; local merchants that operate only domestic logistics networks will feel pressure to match standards set by cross-border players. Policy and enforcement (e.g., around delivery options, product safety, VAT and consumer protection) will need to account for the fact that many "Belgian" online transactions are executed by foreign-based sellers using EU-wide platforms.
Design for mobile-first, Bancontact-anchored checkouts
- Belgium has become a mobile-first and local-payment-driven e-commerce market. Recent operational insights from logistics and digital agencies suggest that around six in ten online purchases now occur via smartphone, placing Belgium firmly in the mobile-first camp. On the payments side, Bancontact and the Bancontact-Payconiq mobile app remain the primary domestic rails for both in-store and online payments, with over 2.5 billion transactions in 2024 and continued growth. The ecosystem is now being rebranded and simplified under the "Bancontact Pay" banner.
- Strong 4G/5G infrastructure and high mobile internet speeds support fluid mobile shopping experiences, reinforcing smartphone usage for browsing and checkout. Belgian consumers show a clear preference for domestic payment schemes embedded in banking apps, with Bancontact widely recognized and integrated across local webshops and marketplaces.
Key Attributes:
| Report Attribute | Details |
| No. of Pages | 110 |
| Forecast Period | 2025 - 2029 |
| Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2025 | $21.85 Billion |
| Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 | $26.99 Billion |
| Compound Annual Growth Rate | 5.4% |
| Regions Covered | Belgium |
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ime7ac
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Fonte: Business Wire