During the 2013 holiday season, from 2 to 31 December, online retailers operating in Belgium generated a turnover of 285 million euros, or 15.8% of their turnover. annual business and 21% (+50 million euros) more than the same period in 2012, announced Wednesday BeCommerce.
Fashion and accessories remain in first place in 2013. Multimedia and e-products are the most successful e-shops with 64% growth. The sale of cosmetics products, which did not exist in 2012, is found side by side with hardware and software, after toys. Then follow books, CDs and DVDs as well as decorative objects, reveals the Belgian association of online merchants, based on the sales figures of more than 520 e-shops (80% of the Belgian e-commerce market ).
In 2013, total annual sales amounted to 1.8 billion euros, an increase of 18.4% over the previous year (1.52 billion euros).
“We are also witnessing the emergence of Belgian Ecommerce website design companies distribution centers, which are gaining momentum in the market.” The growth prospects and the enthusiasm of Belgian and foreign e-commerce customers are important drivers for creation. jobs in Belgium, “said Patricia Ceysens, president of BeCommerce.
The Outlet-Avenue e-commerce site changes hands
Known to private web sales enthusiasts, the belgian-Belgian start-up Outlet-Avenue, founded four years ago, is changing hands to keep growing and facing the competition. It integrates Shopinvest that it should help develop in e-commerce.
In the distribution, the cross-channel is, for many, the object of a real quest for the future. Finding the way to combine online sales and physical stores is obviously the challenge.
The Flemish group Shopinvest seems, in any case, to have made its choice. The group behind the E5 Mode stores and a series of “outlet” stores has just got their hands on the Belgian-Belgian SME Outlet-Avenue specialized in private sales on the Net. A nice exit for the e-commerce site founded in 2009 and occupying 13 people. It must be said that the latter sought, in fact, to rely on a group with a physical distribution network. It was difficult for him, despite a community of 700,000 customers, to be fully profitable on his own online activities without significantly increasing its turnover (3.2 million euros in 2012). It is said, in fact, that an independent player in online private sales can only achieve profitability with revenues in the order of … 40 million euros.
However, in 2011, Outlet-Avenue had already managed to convince the French group ready-to-wear Beaumanoir (Morgan, Cache Cache, The City, …) to rise in its capital up to 33%. But the two founders of the site, Jean-Pol Boone and Yann Guyonic, wanted to go further and faster and sought, since this summer, a “retail industry that would like to develop in cross channel”. Since early December, they sold their baby to the Flemish group Shopinvest.
Outlet-Avenue will keep its name and activity. But this should give the Outlet sales site greater financial comfort: rather than taking inventory on consignment, it will allow it to buy its product stocks. With the aim of reducing shipping times, reduce the price of product purchases and therefore … increase the margin. The purchase price of Outlet-Avenue remains confidential.
Belgian online trade in the age of maturity
Belgian e-commerce is entering adulthood, according to a study conducted in April and released Thursday by Comeos, the Belgian federation of trade and services. Indeed, 75% of internet users in Belgium have already bought online, which represents one in six Belgians.
According to the Comeos study, there is an 8% increase over 2012 for online purchases in the 44-59 age group. But it is especially for the over 60 years that the increase is spectacular, since 55% of them have already bought online. In 2012, they were only 42%. “The differences by age are disappearing, and we have clearly passed the ‘late majority’ mark,” explains Dominique Michel, managing director of Comeos.
In the top 3 online shopping, we find in first position clothes and shoes. 46% of respondents say they have bought at least one piece of clothing or a pair of shoes during the last twelve months. This first place is easily explained: “Consumers have become accustomed to ordering online and know they can return items for free if they do not suit them.Another factor therefore comes into play: the comparison prices, “continues Dominique Michel.
E-commerce in Belgium accounts for 3% of the retail trade in Belgium, which remains little in comparison with the Netherlands or Great Britain where e-commerce accounts for 10% of the total market.