Ecommerce development for Belgian online shops

Choosing a platform

There is no single right platform for a Belgian shop. Shopify is quick to launch and has fewer moving parts. WooCommerce gives control over data and design and suits shops already on WordPress. A custom or headless build suits unusual pricing, B2B ordering or heavy integrations. We recommend one after a short call about your catalogue, team and budget. Our comparisons of Shopify vs WooCommerce and WooCommerce vs Magento set out the differences, and our Shopify page for Belgium covers that platform in detail.

The Belgian checkout

A payment provider that supports Bancontact, such as Mollie, Adyen or Stripe, does the card and bank handling. See Stripe's documentation on Bancontact for how the method behaves.

Selling beyond Belgium

Many Belgian shops sell to the Netherlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg. Each country adds its own shipping zones, language and consumer expectations. EU VAT rules for distance sales to consumers in other member states can change which rate you charge, and the One-Stop Shop scheme exists to simplify reporting. Ask your accountant how it applies to you, then we configure the shop to match: country-specific tax rates, price display and invoice details. Language versions for other countries are separate from your nl-BE and fr-BE pages, which matters for search.

Integrations that save time

• Stock and orders synced with your ERP or inventory tool, including Odoo where used.
• Carrier labels and tracking emails, so customers see delivery updates in their language.
• Accounting exports for invoices and credit notes.
• Marketplace and product feeds, such as Google Merchant Center and, where you sell there, Dutch-language marketplaces.
• Email platform sync for abandoned carts, with consent recorded.

We connect these through APIs where they exist. Where they do not, we use scheduled exports and check them with test orders.

Speed, search and launch checks

A shop that loads slowly on a phone loses buyers before the checkout appears. We set page-speed targets in the plan, optimize product images, limit third-party scripts and test the cart on real devices. Search needs attention from the start too: clean category URLs, unique product text, product schema that matches the visible price, and hreflang between your Dutch and French versions. Our Belgium ecommerce SEO page covers the search side in more detail.

Before launch we run test orders for each payment method, each shipping zone and each language. We check the confirmation email, the invoice PDF, the stock update and a return request. We also test failures: a declined card, an address the carrier cannot serve and a product that sells out while it sits in a cart. These tests find the problems customers would otherwise report.

Rules to check with your lawyer

The Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD/GBA) enforces GDPR, so customer accounts, analytics and marketing tags need consent where required. Distance sales to consumers require clear pre-contract information and a withdrawal notice. The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to many online shops, so keyboard use, contrast, form labels and error messages must work. Your legal notice normally shows company name, address, enterprise number and VAT number, and language requirements for consumer information can vary by region. We implement the technical parts and flag questions for your lawyer. This is not legal advice.

Project flow and pricing

We are remote. Belgium is 3.5 hours behind India in summer and 4.5 hours behind in winter, so demos fall in your morning. A typical flow is scope, design, build, test orders, launch and a support period. One lead runs the project and the accounts are in your name.

Projects start at $1,500 and our rate is $30 an hour, in US dollars. Price moves with catalogue size, languages, integrations and custom features. The ecommerce website cost guide explains each driver, and our ecommerce solutions page lists the scope. A Belgian VAT-registered buyer normally reverse-charges VAT at 21% on our services; confirm with your accountant.