Belgians less likely to shop online

Shopping online is much less common in Belgium than in neighbouring countries, according to a survey by Eurostat. Of the Belgian internet users surveyed, 55 percent had purchased something online in the past 12 months.

This figure is considerably lower than in the Netherlands (69 percent), Germany (77 percent), Luxembourg (73 percent), France (69 percent) and the UK (82 per cent, yet closer to the European average (59 percent).

Of the Belgians who shopped online, their purchases went to travel and accommodation (28 percent), clothes or sports equipment (20 percent), books or magazines (15 percent) and food (5 percent).