So, you want to expand your eCommerce business, but you aren’t exactly sure where to start. There are myriad markets out there, but in order to find success, you have to strategically focus your eStore’s marketing strategy instead of blindly expanding to as many markets as possible.
What about expanding into a market with a combined population of 28 million people, where English is widely spoken, and where there’s a gross domestic product of €1.08 trillion?
Enter Belgium and the Netherlands, two countries in the Benelux Union that offer an attractive market to international retailers looking to expand into new areas. Although they are neighbors in location, these are two significantly different markets. Here’s what to know when expanding into these markets.
In Belgium, 74% of the population shops online. Last year, the eCommerce sector in Belgium grew approximately 34.2%, to slightly over €7 billion. The average consumer spends $766 online right now, and this figure is predicted to grow to $1,872 by 2021. The majority of female online shoppers are 16-24 years old, while males are 25-34 years old.
Consumers in Belgium also have a lot of options, as the number of online retailers has increased to over 24,000 in recent years. Interestingly, a significant 88% of the total transaction value has been generated by just 861 online retailers — or 4% of all Belgian eSellers. In fact, 85% of online shops in Belgium generate less than €100,000.
But what are consumers actually buying and how?
The most popular categories among Belgian consumers are:
Ecommerce is becoming more and more popular in Belgium. Nearly 60% of Belgians have made at least one online purchase, and 25% shop online monthly. Online spending has increased 10 times in the period 2013-2017, from approximately half a billion euros to almost 5.5 billion euros. It is estimated that 5.4 million Belgians make purchases from abroad, and more that 25% shop abroad at least four times a year.
How are they shopping? Around 90% of online shoppers in Belgium shop online via desktop, 5% of shoppers make purchases via tablet, and just 2% made their most recent purchase via smartphone. What this tells you is that while a mobile strategy is an important element for merchants in the region — as those numbers are predicted to grow — desktop is an avenue that shouldn’t be ignored.
Facts about the Belgian online sellers’ market you should not miss
Belgian online shoppers are driven by two important things — convenience and price. They value being able to save time, shop 24/7, having everything in one place and the ability to compare prices with one mouse click. The perfect webshop needs to include clear pricing and cost, and have reliable, fast delivery.
Belgium was ranked sixth in 2016’s World Bank Logistics ranking, which makes it among the easiest countries in the world to deliver to. This is a good thing, since Belgium imports more than $253 billion from foreign countries.
The top 5 countries Belgium eCommerce imports from are:
| Ranking | Online Store | Main Country |
| 1 | Coolblue.be | Belgium |
| 2 | Bol.com | Netherlands |
| 3 | Amazon.fr | France |
| 4 | Zalando.be | Belgium |
| 5 | Apple.com | United States |
When it comes to how Belgian consumers prefer to pay, the most popular payment methods include PayPal, Bancontact, and bank transfers remain popular — 32% of online payments are made via credit card, and 30% of online shoppers prefer to use debit cards. Bancontact was used for 68% of all online purchases and for 30% of online spending in 2018.
While similar to their Belgian neighbors in many ways, the Dutch do have their own way of doing things. Ecommerce in the Netherlands was worth €22.5 billion last year, and is predicted to be worth almost €25 billion at the end of 2019.
There are 16.4 million internet users in the Netherlands, representing 97% of the population. Eighty-four percent of people living in the Netherlands shop online, and online sales in the Netherlands currently account for 9.6% of the country’s total retail industry. It’s predicted that by 2023, Dutch consumers will spend an average of $1,924.97 online. The majority of eCommerce users in the Netherlands are male, but only marginally — 50.7% vs. 49.3%. Most of the users are 45-54 years old.
From a category perspective, the most popular retail categories are similar to the Belgian market:
Eighty-six percent of Dutch shoppers make purchases via desktop, a stark contrast to the amount of smartphone (3%) and tablet (8%) shoppers.
The Netherlands imported over $310 billion of products in 2016. The top 5 countries the Netherlands imports from are:
| Rank | Online Store | Main Country |
| 1 | Bol.com | Netherlands |
| 2 | Coolblue.be | Belgium |
| 3 | Zalando.be | Belgium |
| 4 | Wehkamp.nl | Netherlands |
| 5 | Albert Heijn (Ah.nl) | Netherlands |
Unlike in Belgium, the Dutch don’t use payment cards (debit and credit) often because they were never made for the distance selling environment and systems have had to be developed to make them work for online transactions. Instead, the Dutch created iDeal, a system that allows payments to be made without cards. This system uses bank-to-bank transactions to facilitate secure online transactions. PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods among the Dutch, as are post-payment methods AfterPay, acceptgiro (giro transfer), and Klarna.
Of note is the fact that more than five million Dutch consumers shopped online cross-border last year, a staggering 32% increase from the year before. Together, those shoppers — who account for 37% of the total Dutch population — spent about €880 million at foreign eCommerce websites, which illustrates a significant opportunity for international merchants looking to get in front of this market.
Around 31% of all cross-border spending went to a Chinese online store, followed by shops in Germany (17%) and the United Kingdom (15%). The reason? Limited domestic choice combined with price, value, and selection were quoted as key motivators for shopping cross-border.
When it comes to reaching consumers in Belgium and the Netherlands, it’s important to focus your marketing strategy where your customers are doing their shopping. International brands such as Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, and Zalando have a strong presence in both countries, so if you’re not already set up in those marketplaces, you’re missing out on an opportunity.
If you’re interested in expanding into these burgeoning markets, consider developing new products to match local tastes — namely fashion, which accounts for more than half of online sales in both countries and is expected to be the biggest growth area in the coming years.
And while a majority of these shoppers still make purchases on their desktops, don’t overlook the importance of optimizing your site for mobile and tablet. An overall strategy encompassing both desktop and mobile is worth pursuing in these markets.
You also have to make sure that your store is fully translated to best reach these customers. While Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands, these consumers also speak English and German. In Belgium, people speak French, Dutch, English, and German, providing a unique challenge to merchants — but also a new opportunity.
Digital marketing enables merchants to reach new markets without having a local presence, and as long as you understand the consumer, Belgium and the Netherlands present the opportunity for great market growth for eSellers.