Shopify design and development for brands in Belgium

What makes Belgium different from its neighbors?

Belgium is a small market with three official languages, its own national payment method and a strong habit of buying from foreign webshops. A store built for the Netherlands or France rarely works in Belgium without changes.

According to the US International Trade Administration, cross-border purchases make up roughly 35% of Belgian online spending, mostly from the Netherlands, France, Germany and China. That cuts both ways: Belgian shoppers are comfortable buying from you even if you are not Belgian, but they compare you directly with large Dutch and French retailers. Over half of Belgian ecommerce transactions happen on mobile, so the mobile checkout is the one to design first.

Which languages does a Belgian Shopify store need?

At least Dutch and French. Most Belgian brands run both, and some add German or English. Shopify Markets lets you serve all of them from one store under one Belgian market, each with its own URL.

Our take: a proper nl-BE and fr-BE setup with hreflang tags does more for Belgian SEO than one machine-translated version. We build the theme so every string is translatable and wire up Shopify's language settings; your translator or team provides the copy.

How do Belgians pay online?

With Bancontact. Adyen describes it as the dominant method, used for roughly 65% of Belgian ecommerce, and it is available as a local payment method in Shopify Payments for customers in Belgium.

After Bancontact come cards, mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and PayPal. Klarna is also built into Shopify Payments for Belgian customers paying in euros. If you are a Dutch brand selling into Flanders, an easy mistake is leaving iDEAL as the hero payment method: Belgian customers need Bancontact shown first.

What legal rules apply to Belgian webshops?

Belgian webshops must show full company identification, follow the EU 14-day withdrawal rules and, since August 14, 2026, offer an online withdrawal button under new Article VI.61/2 of the Code of Economic Law.

• Company identification. Company name, legal form, registered office, contact details, enterprise number from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE), VAT number and, where relevant, the register of legal entities (RPR) and its court. DNS Belgium suggests putting this in the footer of every page.
• Withdrawal button. Belgium transposed the EU directive with the Act of 19 July 2026. The function must be labeled "withdraw from the contract here" or something equally clear (in your storefront language), with a separate confirmation step and an electronic acknowledgement.
• Prices and product information. Total price, main product characteristics, payment and delivery terms, all clear before checkout.
• Privacy and cookie statements under the GDPR.

Two upcoming changes to plan for: from May 1, 2027, businesses must remind consumers on a durable medium before automatically renewing fixed-term contracts longer than a month, which matters for Shopify subscription stores. And since September 27, 2026, the rules implementing the EU Green Transition Directive restrict generic environmental claims, so review "eco-friendly" wording on product pages.

How do VAT and shipping work in Belgium?

Belgian VAT is 21% standard, with reduced rates of 12% and 6%. EU brands selling into Belgium from another member state follow the €10,000 EU-wide threshold and can use the One-Stop Shop, supported in Shopify's EU tax settings.

bpost is the national carrier, and Dutch and international carriers also deliver widely in Belgium, often via pickup points. Shopify Shipping's built-in label buying is not listed for Belgian fulfillment locations, so Belgian brands usually connect their carrier through an app. If you ship from the Netherlands or France, show delivery times for Belgium specifically, not your domestic promise.

How do we work with Belgian brands?

We're a remote studio, so there's no local office; we work with brands in Belgium remotely. We work asynchronously by email and Basecamp and schedule calls within your working hours.

1. Discovery call, booked at silverarc.youcanbook.me.
2. Written proposal with scope and timeline.
3. Design questionnaire, first Figma design in under a week, up to 3 revision rounds.
4. Development in your own Shopify account with Dutch and French storefronts.
5. Launch and handover: you own the store, theme, domain and data.

Projects run in English (we also speak Spanish, Catalan and Hebrew), by email and Basecamp.

Shopify services for Belgian brands

• Shopify store design for bilingual brands.
• Shopify development: multilingual themes, custom sections, carrier and accounting integrations.
• Shopify migration from WooCommerce, Lightspeed or Magento.
• Shopify B2B for wholesale across the Benelux and France.
• Shopify Plus for multi-country expansion.
• Shopify SEO and CRO, including hreflang for nl-BE and fr-BE.
• Web design for simple non-Shopify sites.

Selling in the Netherlands or France too? See Shopify for the Netherlands and Shopify for France, or contact us.