Buying online has been continuously increasing over the past years throughout the World, and Belgium is no exception. According to recent statistics issued by The House of Marketing and SafeShops.com, more than 20,000 Belgian shops were  active on Internet last year, which represents a EUR 5,8 billion turnover (+17% compared to the 2016 figures!).

It is not really surprising. Most of the people compare prices and products online when it comes to purchase a new computer or a mobile phone. But instead of rushing to the city centre after they’ve  made their decisions, it is now very common to directly make the whole process online. And according to surveys, 60% of the Belgian population has already purchased goods online.

“We can be proud of those figures. They reflect the trust of the Belgian consumers, including in the small stakeholders”, Greet Dekocker, executive director of Safshops.be, said.

Who are the winners of such a trend? Thinking about e-shopping directly refers to multinational companies, such as Amazon or the most famous clothing brands. 4% of the stakeholders indeed represent 89% of the e-shopping market share, which means there are clear imbalances. But the ‘small stores’ have increased their online turnover by 48% last year, whereas the average increase represents 15%. And this trend should probably keep on going over the upcoming years.

Internet has not supplanté “traditional shopping”. Although there has been an obvious growth of e-shopping recently, the physical shops are definitely not dead. According to another report issued by Test Achats, more than 70% of the people still purchase goods in traditional stores. Online acquisitions would represent about 20% of the total customer base.

And if you have a walk in Rue Neuve on Saturday afternoon, there is no way e-shopping will take over the physical shops.

Although Internet is definitely a very good plan to compare goods, it is still preferable to have a real look at what you aim to get before buying an item.

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