Sales held firm in the second quarter of 2015 to reach 1.97 billion euros, according to BeCommerce Market Monitor figures, which result from research by GfK (a German market research institute) on behalf of Becommerce (a Belgian distance-selling association) and with support from PostNL, Google, and Worldline. “With 5 purchases per second, Belgian e-commerce is already halfway towards a figure of 7 billion euros by the end of the year,” believes Becommerce.
Over the course of the last quarter, 6.7 million Belgians bought products or services online. “This means that 72.6% of Belgians over the age of 15 purchased at least one product or service online (…) spending on average 103 euros per purchase.
The 3.88 million Flemish making an online purchase, snapped up a total of just over 10 million products or services. The average online spend was 294 euros, for a total of 1.14 billion euros. In Wallonia and Brussels, 2.82 million consumers spent on average 293 euros making at least one online purchase for a massive total cost of 830 million euros.
Buying plane tickets and booking accommodation are the most popular online purchases, followed by booking for tourist attractions and events, and all-inclusive trips; the 3 categories represent 60% of all online spending. 2 retail sectors saw a healthy increase in online sales in the second quarter: telecoms (25-30%) and toys (17-31%).
Over half of online purchases were made with a computer, but buying with a tablet is on the rise (7-10%). Lastly, methods of payment: credit cards remain the most popular means of payment with 35% of online purchases, followed by online Bancontact (30%), and Paypal (12%).
(Source: Belga)
