Amazon to come to Belgium but not as Amazon.be

The American behemoth Amazon plans to release a Belgian version of its online store in the coming months, but the website will be amazon.com.be, not amazon.be. 

The domain amazon.be has been owned by insurance company Baloise for some time now. Amazon declined to comment as to whether or not they attempted to negotiate a transfer of the name before settling on amazon.com.be.

“We believe that amazon.com.be is a great domain name,” Eva Faict, Amazon’s manager for Belgium, told local media. 

“We are confident that customers will find us. So far, they have even been able to find us across borders. As long as we stay true to our offering and listen to our customers, they will continue to find us.”

Belgians looking to purchase from Amazon currently use either Amazon.nl in order to browse in the Dutch language or Amazon.fr for shopping in French. The German version, amazon.de, also ships many products to Belgium.

The French webshop has been around since 2003, the German one since 2016 and the Dutch one since 2020. 

“Millions of Belgian customers have been shopping at Amazon websites all over the world for years,” Faict said, adding that the first Belgian order was placed in June 2002. 

By launching a dedicated platform for the country, Amazon wants “to offer greater added value with a local shop”.

Dedicated customer service team for Belgian buyers

Details of the new platform are still being worked out, including concrete information regarding the official launch. 

“Everything will be fine-tuned for the Belgian customer,” said Faict, including a dedicated customer service team.

Amazon is currently looking for Belgian businesses willing to offer their products on the new webshop. Interested parties can register at sell.amazon.com. 

At present, more than 1,000 Belgian SMEs are already selling through one or more of Amazon's 21 foreign webshops.

“We are not too concerned with competition,” Faict said in regards to existing players on the Belgian e-commerce scene. 

Amazon announced back in February that they would open their first Belgian delivery centre in Antwerp, where parcels from sorting centres in neighbouring countries would be processed. 

It’s still slated to open in the autumn, but Amazon will not make Belgian deliveries using the warehouse. Rather, they will continue to work with existing independent delivery partners, such as bpost.