Belgium

The interest in domestic travel remains high in Belgium as the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic linger and impact travel and spending decisions. Domestic tourism grew in popularity during the pandemic. Consumer preferences turned…

Since the dynamic rise in cheese consumption witnessed in 2020, retail volume sales have been falling back and consequently the category declined slightly in 2022. Nevertheless, retail volume sales remain above pre-pandemic levels with the popularity…

Local savoury snacks brands fight for the attention of consumers, providing a good balance of quality and price and, as a bonus, sustainable packaging. In 2021, Delhaize announced that it has changed the plastic packaging for its seeds, nuts from…

The COVID-19 crisis saw a trend towards single portion products in ice cream, partly as a result of consumers becoming concerned about portion control in an increasingly health-conscious environment with plentiful opportunities for over-indulgence…

With COVID-19 resulting in less shopping in brick-and-mortar outlets, many chocolate confectionery players concentrated on upgrading their online presence, both for Belgian and international customers. As well as setting up online e-commerce…

The circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic had opposite effects on the performance of homeshopping in both 2020 and 2021. Categories such as apparel and beauty and personal care, for instance, strongly declined, mostly due to both retailers and…

Positive sales in sports drinks are being supported by the complete reopening of sporting facilities and gymnasiums following the lockdowns, closures, and restrictions of the pandemic. As such, these are rebound sales as opposed to an uptick in the…

One would have thought that the market for sleep aids would struggle in 2022, after two years of double-digit value growth during the COVID-19 crisis. Consumers’ stress levels were high during the pandemic, leading to increased anxiety and insomnia.…

Beer consumption in Belgium continued to fall in 2021 as part of a long-term shift away from drinking bigger servings of lagers to smaller volumes of stronger beers and ales. The stay at home culture only intensified this trend as Belgians focused on…

Surface care saw a sharp spike in sales in 2020 due to people spending a lot more time at home, but also due to heightened hygiene concerns resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. With the easing of restrictions in 2021, surface care sales dropped.…

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 sales of air care had been stagnating with consumers showing a preference for more natural solutions. However, the pandemic and the measures taken to contain it provided a major boost to category sales in 2020 with…

In 2021, the retailing environment in Belgium benefitted from the gradual lifting of restrictions related to COVID-19. Indeed, whilst store-based sales in non-grocery showed recovery, e-commerce continued to record strong growth in the year due to…

Concentrates is benefiting from sustainability trends and stealing shares from other categories, such as carbonates and flavoured bottled water. This is because concentrates are cheaper in price and also adhere better to sustainability trends in the…

Sales in bottled water are stabilising in 2022, with volume sales supported by the relatively long and hot summer in Belgium. Within this, on-the-go consumption is driving growth. Indeed, as out-of-home leisure and professional activities are fully…

Sales of dermatologicals are likely to post appreciable value growth in 2022, something that was not seen over the review period. Admittedly, this partly stems from a strong price increase over 2021 due to rising inflation and is mainly a catch-up…

Many Belgian tourists booked flights to Southern Europe in summer 2022. Tourists are more confident that they can go on holiday outside the country and not be infected or become stranded because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 levels…

The relaxing of COVID-19 related restrictions in 2022 has led to consumers traveling more, enjoying social gatherings with family and friends, and spending time on the go and in the open air. There has also been a shift back to the workplace after a…

Deodorants was negatively affected by the overall restricted living conditions seen during the pandemic. In 2021, whilst sales of deodorants improved upon the easing of pandemic-related restrictions, when consumers were able to move around more,…

Colour cosmetics was hit particularly hard by the event of COVID-19 in the previous year, due to a plethora of factors. These range from social distancing measures, with more people working from home and not socialising, thus resulting in fewer…

Following a notable surge in demand for much of retail tissue due to stockpiling tendencies amongst consumers during the pandemic, the category returned to declining demand in 2021. While the home seclusion trend remained due to ongoing remote…