The blog

The recent announcement by the Belgian government that the coronavirus containment measures would be extended by two more weeks goes to show that this is an ever evolving crisis. In a previous article, we predicted a significant boost in online sales, due to the closure of most physical stores. Today, Belgian e-commerce is going through its maturity phase, which is proven by the growing number of new market players and the creation of valuable customer experiences. We’re doing everything possible to make e-commerce grow and mature, and therefore expect an even more sustainable growth in the long term. While we see the numbers of e-sales increasing, there have been a few phenomena standing in the way of the success of e-commerce worldwide – think of retailers being overwhelmed by requests for collect services or IKEA’s announcement about their limited webshop offer. In this post, we identify possible blocking factors for e-commerce, divided into 2 main groups: operations & customer expectations. In addition, we share tips for webshop owners to survive during and after these challenging times.

We recently shared thoughts about business design thinking with Professor Marion Debruyne, Dean of Vlerick Business School and author of the award-winning book 'Customer Innovation', for our 16th Yearly Marketing Survey. Watch the video for her expert opinion about the innovative approach.

The newly launched E-commerce Barometer 2019 confirmed a positive trend in Belgian e-commerce. The Belgian e-commerce market accounted for no less than 8.2 billion euros of online revenue in 2019, representing a sharp increase of 17% compared to 2018. This significant growth trend first set in 3 years ago. Due to strict measures limiting offline operations in response to the current corona crisis, we expect the number of online sales to grow even faster. But how does our performance compare to our neighboring countries? Our neighboring countries are also on a growth trajectory. A look at the table below tells us that we still achieved a stronger growth percentage compared to some neighboring countries, which means that Belgium is certainly on the right track. This positive trend clearly shows that e-commerce is becoming a fully-fledged part of the economy and therefore has a significant impact on it. It has changed the overall profit and cost structure of companies and brought about a shift in the interaction and engagement between buyers and sellers.

Events are canceled, schools have suspended classes and (most) physical stores are keeping their doors closed: social distancing is the new black. As the COVID-19 virus spreads rapidly throughout Europe and within Belgium, companies are compelled to take responsibility and adapt to the situation. But what's the impact of the virus commotion on e-commerce? Julie Luppens, one of the e-commerce experts at The House of Marketing, expects e-commerce in Belgium to boom these next few weeks/months, partly due to various actions online businesses are taking. We first look into those measures, before discussing 3 trends identified in the recently launched E-commerce Barometer 2019 – and how they will evolve in times of COVID-19.

With COVID-19 spreading rapidly through Europe and Belgium, businesses are increasingly impacted. In light of this evolution, we're sharing an update on measurements from our side. Since March 3rd, we’ve put the following actions into place, in addition to governmental regulations:

The marketing team of our client, a large pharmaceutical company, wanted to improve their communication towards healthcare professionals. This resulted in 3 main questions:

There are literally hundreds of trends in e-commerce, from new ways to host your e-commerce platform to delivering goods with automated drones.

Get to know your customer! There are no two ways about it – this has become a bit of a mantra for modern-day companies. Customer-centricity has continued to grow in importance and has shifted from being useful to being a necessity. Although it’s heard loud and clear, it seems easier said than done: In practice, only 53% of Belgian marketers claim they are succeeding in putting the customer first (YMS). On the other hand, a lot of companies like to pretend that they know their customer. But really knowing your customer means you have to discover what they want, how they want it and when they want it. More than knowing your customer, you should be able to understand them.

Have you ever considered giving a voice to your brand? Can you imagine how powerful it would be to have a conversation with your customers at home, in their car and everywhere they go? New technologies have brought new opportunities for brands to improve the services offered to their customers and become more customer-centric. Voice technology is one that wields a strong impact. Read on to discover why your brand should adopt a voice strategy today.

Voice technologies embrace the digital world by giving new opportunities to brands and added value to customers. And it doesn’t look set to stop in the near future. In fact, opportunities continue to grow massively as customers come round to the idea. Seeing the impact, following and, for some, even creating the wave is becoming indispensable for brands. Let us take you through the main steps you need to follow to roll out a voice strategy.