Retail trade

NACE 47

Current registrations117,130

Starters, 12 months10,534

Employment (FTE)239,656

Median age9.4 years

In NACE division 47, 9.0 companies per 100 started in the past twelve months, against 7.5 nationally; that is higher than that of 66% of the 86 other NACE divisions. Comparison: as of 26-09-2026 05:30.

Key figures for NACE division 47

fiscal year 2025 · median over 33,075 filed annual accounts

Median solvency

35.5%

lower than 81% of 78 divisions

Median equity

€93,645

lower than 62% of 78 divisions

Median net result

€10,578

lower than 68% of 78 divisions

Annual accounts in sample

33,075

Bankruptcies

past five years

Bankruptcies (5y)

2,408

Historical share

2.06%

Nationally, 1.41% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 78% of the 87 other NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 47 is 0.8%, against 0.5% nationally, over 57,445 scored companies. Comparison: as of 26-09-2026 05:30.

Regional split

by region · 68,469 of 117,130 enterprises with a registered office on file

Flanders 39,255 · 57.3%

Wallonia 18,937 · 27.7%

Brussels 9,822 · 14.3%

Unknown 455 · 0.7%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

Date	Company
25-09-2026	MJ2 BEAUTY WORLD BE 0636.857.854
25-09-2026	POISSONNERIE LA CIGALE BE 0738.551.664
25-09-2026	TIMGAD BLDC BE 0762.444.546
25-09-2026	TECH TRONICS BE 1014.225.961
25-09-2026	Siblings BE 0674.828.010
24-09-2026	Los Suenos BE 1009.145.141
24-09-2026	G&S Store BE 0758.460.420
23-09-2026	Cisco68 BE 0742.955.365

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the establishment address

West Flanders WVL 7,476

East Flanders OVL 8,019

Antwerp ANT 11,606

Flemish Brabant VLB 7,068

Limburg LIM 5,086

Brussels BRU 9,822

Hainaut HAI 6,171

Walloon Brabant WBR 2,840

Namur NAM 2,908

Liège LIE 5,589

Luxembourg LUX 1,429

fewer moremax 11,606

Public money in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number

Flemish subsidies €417.2m awarded 9,111 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Erkenning en subsidiëring als maatwerkafdeling
Federal transfers 49.9m amount as published 33 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Toelagen OCMW's recht op maatschappelijke integratie
Wallonia-Brussels Federation €37.6m paid 113 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subventions aux organisations de jeunesse (décret du 20 juin 1980 et du 26 mars 2009)
EU budget €76.7m attributed share 25 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Information and communication technology
EU research €8.5m eu contribution 13 recipients · 2008 to 2026 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

How these figures are counted

Current enterprise registrations are counted through their registered main activities; establishment units are excluded. Counted in the KBO's NACE 2025 nomenclature, the one in which code 47 exists.

Share of currently registered companies with a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. Registered main activities in the selected classification can overlap. This retrospective share is not a future bankruptcy probability.

The comparison with the country and with the other NACE divisions comes from a nightly overview of every division, each counted in the nomenclature in which it exists. A standing such as "higher than 80%" counts the other divisions that have the figure. The bankruptcy probability is the median of our nightly score over the division's companies that have one; the count is stated.

The middle company of the sector, based on all filed annual accounts.