Quarter of Belgian spending is done online 

Belgians spent almost a quarter of all their spending online in the third quarter of 2021, accounting for 3.24 billion euros. This is according to figures from the BeCommerce Market Monitor, a survey by BeCommerce conducted by GfK and with the support of Bpost, Adyen and the National Lottery. This is an increase of 46% compared to the third quarter of corona and lockdown year 2020, in which there was a smaller percentage - about 16% - of spending online. A total of 8.8 billion euros was spent online from January through September 2021. 

"The corona crisis has really boosted e-commerce in Belgium," observes Sofie Geeroms, Managing Director of BeCommerce. "With the closure of all non-essential stores in March 2020, consumers have been looking for solutions in e-commerce. Now, our research shows that those solutions have also managed to charm consumers, because even when the stores are just open, we are all buying more and more online."

Online travel and events sector came out of pandemic slowly

The online services sector - with the travel and events sector as the main category - emerged victorious during the third quarter of 2021. After being stagnant for a while and experiencing a huge dip during 2020 and early 2021, the travel and events sector was pulled back up to speed last summer: more travel provided a boost to the services sector, which was able to climb back out of its slump after a huge dip during the summer months of 2020. In total, the travel and events sector accounted for 1.1 billion euros during the three summer months, a doubling compared to 2020. Although that figure is still remarkably lower than 2019 when 1.35 billion euros was spent on travel during the third quarter. 

As before the corona crisis, the travel and events sector is primarily buying online. The top three online categories compared to offline trade therefore speaks for itself: 'airline tickets and accommodation (not in package)' remains the category most frequently purchased online with 87%. This is followed by tickets for attractions with 80% of online spending and finally 'package holidays', where 68% of all spending was spent online. "Although the spending is still not close to the pre-corona figure. That's because most people opted for a 'safe' trip within Europe last summer. Those trips are of course less expensive than distant trips abroad, so a smaller amount was spent on travel. Although the first steps towards recovery have been made", says Sofie Geeroms of BeCommerce. 

Clothing sector changed forever by the corona crisis

The corona crisis has made consumers take notice of a few online product categories in particular. The sector that has felt the biggest shift from offline to online due to the corona crisis is the clothing and footwear sector: one in three garments were purchased online in the third quarter of 2021, accounting for a whopping 389 million euros over three months. In 2019, only one garment in five was still purchased online. It is notable that the increase within the clothing category is also observable in the summer months, where there were never any mandatory closures of clothing stores in both 2020 and 2021.    

 "This shows that the clothing sector has been transformed for good. It seems that during the corona crisis, Belgians learned about buying clothes online and therefore realized that it might be easier than they thought before the corona crisis," clarifies Sofie Geeroms. "It is becoming increasingly clear that consumers are demanding e-commerce. This is precisely why we set up our Ezyshop project. With this project, we want to guide Belgian entrepreneurs in their first steps towards online trade. In this way, Belgian entrepreneurs can also benefit from this online transformation."

Popularity of smartphone as a means of payment continues to grow

The smartphone is becoming increasingly popular as a means of payment among Belgians: 38% of online shoppers used their smartphone at least once for an online purchase. The desktop and laptop together still account for

Quarter of Belgian spending is done online 

Belgians spent almost a quarter of all their spending online in the third quarter of 2021, accounting for 3.24 billion euros. This is according to figures from the BeCommerce Market Monitor, a survey by BeCommerce conducted by GfK and with the support of Bpost, Adyen and the National Lottery. This is an increase of 46% compared to the third quarter of corona and lockdown year 2020, in which there was a smaller percentage - about 16% - of spending online. A total of 8.8 billion euros was spent online from January through September 2021. 

"The corona crisis has really boosted e-commerce in Belgium," observes Sofie Geeroms, Managing Director of BeCommerce. "With the closure of all non-essential stores in March 2020, consumers have been looking for solutions in e-commerce. Now, our research shows that those solutions have also managed to charm consumers, because even when the stores are just open, we are all buying more and more online."

Bancontact still the most popular online payment method

Bancontact remains the most popular payment method. 57% of online shoppers said they had used Bancontact online at least once this quarter. The credit card remains the second most popular means of payment with just over a quarter of all online spending this quarter. Our number three also remains the same: PayPal accounts for a tenth of online spending.

Bancontact remains the most popular payment method. 57% of online shoppers said they had used Bancontact online at least once this quarter. The credit card remains the second most popular means of payment with just over a quarter of all online spending this quarter. Our number three also remains the same: PayPal accounts for a tenth of online spending.