GASTLESSEN: HOGENT
BECOM
• About Belgian e-commerce landscape
• Former ‘Safe shops’ (no BeCom)
o They were 2 separate shop, but they merged together as ‘Becom’
• Who is becom?
o 4 important pillars:
§ Trustmark
• When u see the trustmark, you know that they are legally approved by the
government. They can implement this trustmark on their website to inform
the consumers.
o e.g..: unizo, Becom, Ecommerce europe
§ Academy
• Very important. They want to help and train webshops. It’s with webinars,
conventions, an awardshow for the Belgian webshops, …
§ Labs
• They want to develop the market in a sustainable way. They talk with different
players in the field to combine the knowledge. B2B and innovation is very
important here.
§ Advocacy
• There is a legal panel who talks about legal issues and everything that has to
do with the government (legislation)
o ‘wiki’
§ All the information about their company and e-commerce in Belgium
• Consumer rights
o They are legally written down. The most important are;
§ Right to know who you are buying from (telephone number, name,…)
§ Right to make a complaint without any effort or hassle (the webshop has to do
something with it)
§ Entitled to the minimum legal guarantee of 2 years (there is a technical issue with you
laundry machine. You can return it)
§ Obliged to receive confirmation of your order
§ Right to know what the webshop does with your personal data
§ Right to refuse cookies
§ Right to refuse advertising
§ Always have the right to unsubscribe from receiving advertising e-mails
• Status of Belgian e-commerce
o 57.221 webshops in Belgium
§ 47.421 are micro webshops, 8.031 small; 1.487 medium, 282 large webshops
§ The size is based on how much they sell
o Players
§ Technology players: Meta/google/…
§ Niche marketplaces: Bol, decathlon, fonq, c-discount, …
§ Global marketplaces: Amazon/aliexpress/Ebay/…
§ Webshops/retail
93
, o Volume vs transactions
§ The consumer from belgium is buying a lot more from the other countries instead of
buying from Belgian webshops
o Money spent has increased, but the number of purchases has not. Due to inflation as an
example
o The consumer spents their money on products and services (equally)
o Sports is the most popular product category, popularity of fashion is declining
§ Money spent and amount of purchases
o More money spent on National Transportation, but consumers are purchasing more online
insurances
§ Money spent and amount of purchases
• How does the consumer behave online?
o Smartphone is the most used device for online shopping
§ Computer/desktop/laptop is 2nd, tablet 3rd, Smart speaker 4th place
o 85% mention making their purchase during the working week; and 68% make them in the
evening
o Most people start their online shopping online either on a search engine or through a large
specialized webshop
• Geographical spread of e-sellers
o 71% Flanders, 20% Wallonia
o 19 antwerp 15 East flanders, 13 west flanders, …
• Sustainability
o Consumer thoughts
§ Eye for sustainability (47%)
§ Willing to pay (24%)
§ Waiting longer (72%)
o 52% can’t name a sustainable webshop
o How should a webshop focus?
§ Packaging is eco friendly
§ Recycling of old products
§ Buying from local shops
§ ….
o E-com cycle with focus on sustainability
§ Product choice
• The consumer wants to pay more for a sustainable product
• There are labels such as ecolabel, ecochecks, eco score
§ Packaging
• The consumer will pay more for household appliances and telephony,
clothing/shoes/accessories and gaming
• What can the webshop do?
o Single material (sealing tape/box/padding)
o Recyclable packaging
o Reusable packaging
o Airtight packaging
o Economical transport packaging
• What can consumer do?
o Recycle
o Reusable packaging
o Returns
94
BECOM
• About Belgian e-commerce landscape
• Former ‘Safe shops’ (no BeCom)
o They were 2 separate shop, but they merged together as ‘Becom’
• Who is becom?
o 4 important pillars:
§ Trustmark
• When u see the trustmark, you know that they are legally approved by the
government. They can implement this trustmark on their website to inform
the consumers.
o e.g..: unizo, Becom, Ecommerce europe
§ Academy
• Very important. They want to help and train webshops. It’s with webinars,
conventions, an awardshow for the Belgian webshops, …
§ Labs
• They want to develop the market in a sustainable way. They talk with different
players in the field to combine the knowledge. B2B and innovation is very
important here.
§ Advocacy
• There is a legal panel who talks about legal issues and everything that has to
do with the government (legislation)
o ‘wiki’
§ All the information about their company and e-commerce in Belgium
• Consumer rights
o They are legally written down. The most important are;
§ Right to know who you are buying from (telephone number, name,…)
§ Right to make a complaint without any effort or hassle (the webshop has to do
something with it)
§ Entitled to the minimum legal guarantee of 2 years (there is a technical issue with you
laundry machine. You can return it)
§ Obliged to receive confirmation of your order
§ Right to know what the webshop does with your personal data
§ Right to refuse cookies
§ Right to refuse advertising
§ Always have the right to unsubscribe from receiving advertising e-mails
• Status of Belgian e-commerce
o 57.221 webshops in Belgium
§ 47.421 are micro webshops, 8.031 small; 1.487 medium, 282 large webshops
§ The size is based on how much they sell
o Players
§ Technology players: Meta/google/…
§ Niche marketplaces: Bol, decathlon, fonq, c-discount, …
§ Global marketplaces: Amazon/aliexpress/Ebay/…
§ Webshops/retail
93
, o Volume vs transactions
§ The consumer from belgium is buying a lot more from the other countries instead of
buying from Belgian webshops
o Money spent has increased, but the number of purchases has not. Due to inflation as an
example
o The consumer spents their money on products and services (equally)
o Sports is the most popular product category, popularity of fashion is declining
§ Money spent and amount of purchases
o More money spent on National Transportation, but consumers are purchasing more online
insurances
§ Money spent and amount of purchases
• How does the consumer behave online?
o Smartphone is the most used device for online shopping
§ Computer/desktop/laptop is 2nd, tablet 3rd, Smart speaker 4th place
o 85% mention making their purchase during the working week; and 68% make them in the
evening
o Most people start their online shopping online either on a search engine or through a large
specialized webshop
• Geographical spread of e-sellers
o 71% Flanders, 20% Wallonia
o 19 antwerp 15 East flanders, 13 west flanders, …
• Sustainability
o Consumer thoughts
§ Eye for sustainability (47%)
§ Willing to pay (24%)
§ Waiting longer (72%)
o 52% can’t name a sustainable webshop
o How should a webshop focus?
§ Packaging is eco friendly
§ Recycling of old products
§ Buying from local shops
§ ….
o E-com cycle with focus on sustainability
§ Product choice
• The consumer wants to pay more for a sustainable product
• There are labels such as ecolabel, ecochecks, eco score
§ Packaging
• The consumer will pay more for household appliances and telephony,
clothing/shoes/accessories and gaming
• What can the webshop do?
o Single material (sealing tape/box/padding)
o Recyclable packaging
o Reusable packaging
o Airtight packaging
o Economical transport packaging
• What can consumer do?
o Recycle
o Reusable packaging
o Returns
94
