In 2021, the retailing environment in Belgium benefitted from the gradual lifting of restrictions related to COVID-19. Retailing in Belgium report offers insight into key trends and developments driving the industry. The report examines all retail channels to provide sector insight. Channels include hypermarkets, supermarkets, discounters,...
Electronics and appliance specialist retailers witnessed a noticeable increase in value sales in 2021. Demand for home electronics, such as computers, printers and mobile phones, rose, as consumers continued to work remotely from home. When COVID-19 related restrictions were eased, more consumers returned to stores. Electronics and...
COVID-19 caused a clear uptick in demand for products from home and garden specialist retailers as consumers spent more time at home and had more time to dedicate to projects. This surge in demand was especially noticeable in the first half of 2020 when consumers limited their movement more strictly during the first wave of the outbreak. In...
Whilst the economic uncertainty triggered by the pandemic led many consumers to postpone purchases of big-ticket items like fridge freezers and automatic washing machines, the lockdown in 2020 led to particularly strong demand for tablet computers and smartphones. During the COVID-19 crisis, a significant number of educational institutions...
Deemed to be non-essential businesses during the initial stages of the pandemic, home and garden specialist retailers experienced declining value sales during the first year of the pandemic. However, even as restrictions were eased, some consumers remained wary of spending money on non-essential items due to increasing price sensitivity and...
Lockdown measures continued for part of 2021, with work and education across all age groups continuing from home. As a result, electronics and appliance specialist retailers continued to benefit from the shifts in consumer behaviour associated with the pandemic. Electronics and appliance specialist retailers was one of the few non-grocery...
Having declined sharply in 2020, the retail current value sales of home and garden specialist retailers rebounded strongly during 2021 to exceed their 2019 peak. The national lockdown enforced from March-May 2020 required all non-essential stores, including home and garden specialist retailers, to close for an extended period. Later, sales...
Electronics and appliance specialist retailers saw a strong decrease in store sales in 2020, due to reduced foot traffic during the lockdown, while their online sales continued to increase sharply. However, overall sales of electronics and appliances were relatively pandemic-resilient in 2020, because work and social/entertainment activities...
Consumers spent more time than ever at home in 2020 and 2021 due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This encouraged many households to carry out renovations, work on their gardens and purchase furniture, resulting in a surge in demand for related items. Some consumers used their surplus free time to carry out postponed home renovations,...
Consumers, realising that they would be spending extended time at home and wanting to make their environment more comfortable, brought forward smaller home renovations and improvements that they could implement themselves. This kept some consumers busy during the lockdown periods and generated extra sales for retailers. The sales of home and...