Following a strong increase in demand in 2020 due to lockdowns, stockpiling and social distancing, food e-commerce continued to grow strongly in 2021. This growth was primarily boosted by the ongoing conditions of the pandemic, including movement restrictions, as well as consumers’ need for convenience.
Extremely positive growth in 2021 was also the result of food retailers realising the need to improve their e-commerce offering, both in terms of logistics (delivery services) and infrastructure. Carrefour partnered with Deliveroo to offer home delivery, whilst Albert Heijn expanded its home delivery offering, at a price significantly lower than the market average.
In 2021, the first quick commerce players entered Belgium, including Gorillas (in Brussels and Antwerp) and Ding Dong (in Brussels). They were quickly followed by other players, such as the domestic eSupply, which is active in Leuvan, Gand and Antwerp, and offers delivery within 15 minutes (versus Gorillas’ 10 minutes) but delivers until 1 am (versus Gorillas’ 11 pm) and offers a wide range of reductions and promotions.
At the end of the review period, demand in the channel outpaced supply, therefore retailers worked on improving the infrastructure. In 2021, both Carrefour and Colruyt worked on the creation of a distribution centre solely devoted to food e-commerce in order to be sure to be able to meet strongly increasing demand.
The increasing relevance of home delivery and the development of quick commerce in food e-commerce retailing are likely to impact the strongly established click-and-collect system. Indeed, the leader in the click-and-collect field, Etn Franz Colruyt, already saw its shares diminish in 2020 and 2021, and is likely to launch a home delivery service over the forecast period.
Strong competition in food e-commerce, with the entry of new players and with major retailers investing in digitalisation, is likely to result in pressure on prices and therefore on profit margins over the 2022-2026 period.
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Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Food and Drink Internet Retailing industry in Belgium with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
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Internet retailing sales of food and drink (all packaged and fresh food and drink (hot drinks, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks).
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Food and Drink Internet Retailing research and analysis database.
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