Ecommerce in Belgium
Do you have a Dutch website and want to take it abroad? A good first step is to expand to the southern neighbors and start with ecommerce Belgium. In 2021, 55% of e-commerce involved a purchase abroad, of which 34% was in the Netherlands. So it definitely makes sense to offer your products or services in Belgium as well. Since Dutch and Belgian people speak the same language, you do not need to translate the site. However, do pay attention to certain terms: 'showroom', for example, is 'toonzaal' in Flemish, and 'sale' is what they call 'solden'. Thanks to these minor word changes, Belgian search engines will also pick up your site. However, there are some differences between the Dutch and the Belgian customer. Read about the online purchasing behavior of Belgians on this page.
Top 3 foreign online purchases:
Netherlands
China
Top 3 product categories:
Clothing & shoes (29%)
Electronics (16%)
Beauty & Health (15%)
Top 3 favorite payment methods:
Payment card (34%)
Credit card (25%)
Digital wallet (Paypal, Allpay; 24%)
Figures: Crossborder e-commerce shopper research conducted by the International Postal Cooperation (IPC)
Pay and ship to Belgium
In Belgium, people prefer to pay by debit card. But iDeal, they don't know that there. Instead, they use Bancontact as an electronic payment method. So if you want to bring your website to Belgium, it is important that you add this payment method to the site.
For shipping, you can usually just use the Dutch postal service. The Belgians even find it important that we simply deliver their packages through the familiar PostNL network with its service. Since they know this company, it inspires confidence when you send your products with PostNL. This trust, in turn, contributes to the likelihood that people will purchase something from your website.
