Belgium

In 2021, retail volume sales of traditional tobacco products, i.e., cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos and smoking tobacco, declined, while retail value sales of e-vapour products increased in Belgium. Overall, the smoking prevalence is declining in the…

With children being key consumers of sugar confectionery, the diversity and novelty of the product offer is very important. Napoleon, a Belgian confectionery producer, proposed new autumn/winter packs of boiled sweets. Cozy Mix DUO comes in a variety…

Pet care in Belgium continues to develop at a rapid pace alongside changes in society. With the increasing number of single-person households in Belgium, pets are increasingly seen as a suitable companion. Dogs, cats and even smaller mammals such as…

The positive performance of premium dog food is encouraging producers to focus more on health and wellbeing when it comes to new product development. It is also attracting new players into the Belgian market who are offering premium products with a…

Following a decline in 2020, due to social restrictions and fewer grooming occasions, depilatories reverted back to growth in 2021. This was due mostly to the partial lifting of pandemic-related restrictions and increased grooming occasions. Sales in…

In 2021, impregnated wet wipes saw a dip in demand compared to the surge of 2020. Personal wipes on the other hand, saw a marginal upturn in demand in 2021 as consumers ventured outside of the home environment; women for instance, applied cosmetics…

Consumer foodservice will see an increase in sales in 2021. However, the growth was lower than expected due to continuing COVID-19 measures. With outlets being closed at the start of the year, sales were buoyed only by home delivery and takeaway…

The outbreak of COVID-19 and the measures taken to contain it had a positive impact on sales of toilet care in 2020. With consumers working and studying from home they were using the toilet more frequently and thus this boosted demand for toilet…

COVID-19 had a strong and largely positive impact on home care in Belgium in 2020, resulting in dynamic retail volume and current value growth for the category overall. Some categories such as dishwashing and surface care significantly benefited from…

The circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, namely movement restrictions, strongly hurt vending sales in 2020 as there was significantly lower foot traffic in vending locations, such as those in travel and retail. The progressive lifting of…

Variety stores had a difficult year in 2020, suffering from competition from hypermarkets and supermarkets, which were allowed to open during the lockdown and which also have an increasingly strong online presence. In 2021, they returned to growth…

Like other modern grocery retailing channels, supermarkets saw a spike in demand in 2020 due to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic with the stockpiling trend and switch from on-trade to off-trade consumption, and then recorded a slight…

Organic beverages had already seen increasing sales in Belgium towards the end of the review period, with the COVID-19 pandemic intensifying growth in 2020. This trend continued in 2021. The specialised organic stores network in Belgium continues to…

RTDs have a strong appeal among younger generations who want to try alcoholic drinks that often combine sweet flavours in a convenient format. After declining for most of the review period, volume sales of RTDs received a welcome boost in 2021 as the…

The cider/perry category witnessed a positive period in 2021 due to the rising popularity of modern cider which is more attractive to younger generations. Indeed, as the general trend in alcoholic drink is to flavour, modern cider, with its large…

Hair care retail value sales continued to decline in 2021, this was due in part to the decline in consumption as Belgians continued to work from home throughout the year and there were fewer grooming occasions, suppressing demand for products such as…

Sales of dishwashing products shot up in 2020 as consumers were forced into hibernation by COVID-19. This resulted in consumers eating more meals at home which in turn created increased demand for dishwashing. Although restrictions were eased in 2021…

Direct selling managed to perform positively in both 2020 and 2021. Indeed, most direct sellers took advantage of digitalisation and were able to increase their sales thanks to social selling (direct selling through social media, MLM) and home…

Proximity and convenience proved to be key factors behind the very strong growth of convenience stores in 2020. Following such a performance, and in the context of the progressive lifting of restrictions related to COVID-19, convenience stores’ value…

Coffee declined in retail volume terms in 2021. This comes after the boost seen in 2020 because of the enormous amount of consumption occasions that moved from foodservice and institutional channels to retail, forcing consumers to prepare coffee at…