How many people in Belgium use e-commerce in 2019? Over two thirds of the Belgian population were digital buyers that year, having made an online purchase at least once in the previous 12 months. This was slightly above the average of the EU-28, where 57 percent of the consumers used online shopping. The country where it is most common to purchase goods or services online is the United Kingdom, with 82 percent of the people shopping online. Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands all had a digital buyer penetration of around 80 percent in 2017.

Belgium arrived relatively late to the e-commerce party…

Belgium’s e-commerce sales penetration was 18 percent in 2018, meaning that online purchases made up roughly one fifth of all retail spending in the country. This is an increase from, for example, the percentage reached in 2015. However, both Luxembourg (4.8 percent) and the Netherlands (8.9 percent) were already ahead of Belgium (4.5 percent) in that year.

... but it has potential.

Online shopping in Belgium reached a revenue of 10.67 billion in 2018, an increase of more than 600 million euros when compared to the previous year. According to a 2018 survey, the price was the most important driver for Belgian consumers to visit a web shop: 20 percent of the survey respondents mentioned this. Consumer satisfaction with previous experiences (nine percent) and quick delivery (six percent) were also deemed important.