Strong Belgian online sales in first quarter

6.8 million Belgians bought something online

6.8 million Belgian citizens bought at least one product or service online in the first three months of 2015, meaning 74 % of Belgians over the age of 15 bought something online. According to GfK’s numbers from the very first BeCommerce Market Monitor, there were over 20 million purchases worth 2.1 billion euro in turnover. 

About 14 % of all first quarter purchases in Belgium come from online orders, with the average order reaching 307 euro. Flemish orders rank slightly higher at 331 euro for each online order, compared to the Walloon Region and Brussels (275 euro). When looking at the percentages, Flanders is at the back of the pack, as ‘only’ 73 % buys something online – compared to 76 % for the other regions.

“Belgium is catching up”, BeCommerce president, Patricia Ceysens, said. “These excellent first quarter numbers put Belgian eCommerce on track for a 7 billion euro turnover for 2015, with a possible total of 80 million online orders.”

Mobile still lags behind

“The Belgian consumer is definitely active online, but is still very reticent about mobile purchases”, GfK research director Inge Zeeuws said. More than half of online purchases were made using a laptop and a third using desktop computers. In the first quarter, only 7 % of all online orders were placed on a tablet and a mere 3 % on smartphone.”

A few interesting facts:

1. 71 % of those 20 million online orders were for actual products, with the remaining 29 % for services. Splitting the total turnover of 2.1 billion euro into these products and services leads to 42 % of turnover for products and 58 % for services. That shows that while we do buy more products online, we spend more on average for our online services. 

2. The credit card is still the most popular means of payment: nearly half (46 %) of online orders were paid with a credit card. Bancontact (23 %) and online bank transfers (13 %) make up the top 3.

3. 47 million euro went into shipping costs, which is about 2 % of the total amount spent in that first quarter.