Belgian online spending is on the rise. Belgian consumers spent 4.9 billion euros online in the first half of 2017, up 10 per cent from a year earlier. The increase is forcing Belgium to take another critical look at its e-fulfilment regulations.
Figures from the BeCommerce Market Monitor show that e-commerce now accounts for a 17 per cent market share. The number of online shoppers rose by 2 per cent to 7.9 million Belgian consumers. The number of purchases also rose by 2 per cent to 42.3 million. Online spending rose especially in Flanders, where 2.92 billion euro was bought online in the past six months.
The Belgian e-commerce industry is growing fast, but is still struggling with regulations in the country. E-commerce companies that want to process orders between eight o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the morning have to get permission from trade unions. Those unions would set such high demands that it is too expensive to work at night, trade federation Cameos claimed in De Tijd last week.
Yet it's not all doom and gloom in Belgium. The country is home to Nike and Lego's European online store warehouses, for instance, and the warehouses of Katoen Natie and Euro Shoe Group (Shoe Discount/Bristol) also work at night. However, such companies work with a logistics collective agreement and not a shop collective agreement.
Other companies are bypassing Belgian regulations by placing their distribution centres just outside Belgium. Comeos spoke earlier this year of a wave of European distribution centres just outside Belgium. Twenty-four distribution centres have been built in these border regions over the past four years: 17 in the Netherlands, four in Germany and three in France. According to Comeos' calculations, Belgium will lose up to 15,130 jobs as a result.
Editorial LogistiekProfs
