Only three years after launching a dedicated online store for Belgium, Amazon has grown into the country’s second-largest online retailer. The company is investing heavily in Belgium. Part of the investment is going toward same-day delivery from Amazon’s distribution center in Hoboken, near Antwerp.
Logistics in Belgium
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Last month, Amazon announced an investment of more than 1 billion euros in the Belgian market, spread across the years 2025 through 2027. In the Flemish newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen, country manager Eva Faict shares some additional details. She does so from the country’s only logistics centre, opened in the fall of 2022 when Amazon.com.be also went live.
Around one hundred people work there on average, roughly half of them employed directly and half through temp agencies, mainly at night. They prepare parcels — shipped from Amazon warehouses in Germany and France — for delivery to customers in Belgium. Amazon works with fourteen partner companies for the final delivery. “We have plenty of room to expand”, Faict says about the logistics facility.
Same-day delivery
Amazon wants to win over more Belgian shoppers with its familiar combination of a wide product selection, low prices and fast delivery options. Part of the capital injection will go toward same-day delivery, says Faict. “We are not going to do that for all products right away, but for items people like to receive as quickly as possible. Think diapers or toothpaste.”
‘Think of diapers or toothpaste for same day delivery’
To deliver parcels on the same day, Amazon is investing in its own cargo bikes in busy urban areas such as Antwerp. “Part of our investment in Belgium goes toward those bikes”, says Faict, enabling Amazon to deliver faster and cleaner.
Amazon versus bol in Belgium
With a focus on same-day delivery, Amazon is following the lead of the Dutch online department store bol, the market leader in Belgium. According to calculations by the University of Antwerp, Amazon has now climbed to the number-two position in Belgian ecommerce.
Amazon is now number two across all categories
Two years ago, Amazon ranked fourth for furniture and household products and third for electronics. “Today, Amazon is in second place across all categories and has overtaken Coolblue”, says ecommerce professor Roel Gevaers in the newspaper. “But bol still generates 2.5 times more revenue than Amazon in Belgium and therefore clearly remains the market leader.”
Amazon in the Netherlands
Faict, who is also country manager for the Netherlands, is overseeing Amazon’s offensive in that country as well. There, the company is investing more than 1.4 billion euros in the market over a three-year period.
