Belgium

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has resulted in a significant speeding up in the move away from cash, as consumers and retailers tried to avoid handling it, particularly in the early days of the pandemic. This has therefore been providing strong impetus…

Belgium consumer income is set to grow, fostered by a stable economic outlook and vibrant labour market. Those aged 50-59 will hold the greatest purchasing power in 2040, while seniors will be the highest income-earning cohort. Housing will remain…

Wound care is largely dependent on sporting and social activities, thus the event of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions placed downwards pressure on the category. Whilst wound care is back in positive growth figures again after the…

Weight management and wellbeing is a recovering category in 2021, following declines seen in 2020 due to non-essential products, such as cosmeceuticals, being in lower demand during the time of the pandemic. However, in 2021, consumers are starting…

Vitamins are seeing more typical sales in 2021, after a significant boost in 2020 due to the event of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, sales in 2020 were higher than previously seen over the past decade. This is indicative of the boosted trend for…

Sports nutrition is bouncing back in 2021 after seeing steep declines in 2020. The event of the pandemic has been an extremely depressing factor for sports nutrition, due to limited sporting activities and the closure of many outlets involved in…

Sleep aids have shown dynamic performance over the review period, which has only been slightly impacted by the event of COVID-19. However, confidence in the category was uncertain in 2020, due to sleep aids’ declining foothold in pharmacies in March…

Conversely to what was expected last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a notably negative impact on paediatric consumer health in Belgium. One main contributing factor to this is the lower rate of seasonal ailments such as the common cold and…

The event of COVID-19 and associated consequences have had a mixed impact on NRT smoking cessation aids. There were over-average rates of contamination in Belgium in 2020, compared with Europe as a whole, and the country saw very strict restrictions…

The COVID-19 lockdowns and associated stress levels within consumers provided more of an opportunity than a threat to herbal/traditional remedies – particularly in sleep aids and dietary supplements. As in many other countries, Belgium is seeing a…

Sales in eye care are back in positive figures in 2021, compared to the declines seen in 2020. However, it is worthy of note that the category only recorded sub-decimal point growth year-on-year since 2017, before falling into negative figures in…

Digestive remedies have, to a degree, also been affected by the precautionary measures and restrictions in place to control the spread of COVID-19. Lockdowns have meant limited contact between people, alongside consumers wearing face coverings in…

Sales of dietary supplements are back in more normal figures in 2021, following a small boost seen in 2020. However, this boost is also noted to have occurred in the review period (2018-2019), thus cannot to attributed to the event of the pandemic…

Dermatologicals are impacted by seasonal winter respiratory pathologies, such as the common cold, influenza, and even gastroenteritis; alongside incidences of hay fever and allergies which are higher in the spring months. This is because people…

Cough, cold and allergy (hay fever) remedies is showing notably lower declines in 2021 compared to the steep drops seen in 2020. This is only in part due to the mild winter season between December 2019 and March 2021, the conditions of which are not…

Consumer health in Belgium sees the first steps of recovery in 2021, as illustrated by a slight overall increase in sales over the whole year. That said, different categories are showing different levels of performance, based on residual impacts from…

Analgesics is recording a more regular performance again in 2021, after experiencing an atypical year in 2020 due to the event of the pandemic. For example, acetaminophen is seeing slower growth compared to 2020, caused by a sudden drop in sales in…

Due to limited renewable water resources, elevated air and water pollution, and rising exposure to extreme weather events, Belgium showed a moderate performance in the global Sustainability Index. Despite a strong push towards renewables, the…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted many Belgians are looking for additional support in boosting their immune systems and health. Consequently, retail value sales of sour milk products, drinking yoghurt and plain yoghurt are growing at the expense of…

Danone will retain its leadership of other dairy in 2021, but it will lose slight retail value share, with sales for its main brand Danio being cannibalised by indulgence offered by Greek-style yoghurt. Furthermore, the player will manage to record a…