Retail trade
Filed accounts
NACE 47712 · financial year 2025 · 261 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 20.6% | 23.3% | 24.5% | 25.5% | 26.0% | 29.8% |
| Median net result | €748 | €8,475 | €14,184 | €9,680 | €9,078 | €9,278 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 19-06-2026 | UNIVERS CONSULT
BE 0470.812.660 |
| 30-04-2026 | YES MENS & WOMENS
BE 0476.692.345 |
| 07-04-2026 | LAMBRECHT
BE 0479.721.022 |
| 04-02-2026 | Suitify
BE 0751.773.358 |
| 14-01-2026 | SL FASHION
BE 0674.458.420 |
| 21-11-2025 | FITTZ RETAIL
BE 0806.272.314 |
| 16-10-2025 | AKBV
BE 1008.918.180 |
| 13-06-2025 | FUNK YOU
BE 0869.470.782 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 335 of 450 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
The balance sheets of division 47 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 47712 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 CAVRILOMerchtem 38.1 FTEfinancial year 2026
- 2 BROOKLYN - GENTHarelbeke 29.5 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 Gant BelgiumIxelles 27.8 FTEfinancial year 2024
- 4 SOLID IRON BVAntwerp 26.9 FTEfinancial year 2024
- 5 ElbiSint-Gillis (bij-Brussel) 20.5 FTEfinancial year 2026
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 104 companies- 201 Independent retail 90
- 109 Clothing and garment industry 32
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 12
- 215 White-collar workers in the clothing and garment industry 7
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 2
- 311 Large retail businesses 2
- 121 Cleaning 1
- 323 Building management, estate agents and domestic staff 1
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
Division 47: Retail trade
Related activities
22 other activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail sale of clothing and accessories for women, men, children and babies (general range)47716 | 6,396 | 799 | 71 | 10,658 |
| Retail sale of pharmaceutical products47730 | 5,195 | 148 | 8 | 11,475 |
| Other retail sale of new goods47789 | 4,198 | 297 | 17 | 2,322 |
| Retail sale of flowers, plants, seeds and fertilisers47761 | 3,347 | 185 | 15 | 2,345 |
| Retail sale of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels, excluding motor fuels47781 | 3,078 | 21 | 19 | 932 |
| Retail sale of women's outerwear47711 | 2,168 | 293 | 16 | 1,724 |
Show all 22 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail sale of cosmetics and toilet articles47750 | 2,047 | 359 | 13 | 1,950 |
| Retail sale of watches and jewellery47770 | 2,004 | 187 | 10 | 1,243 |
| Retail sale of prescription glasses, lenses and sunglasses47742 | 1,729 | 60 | 5 | 1,747 |
| Retail sale of antiques47791 | 1,434 | 132 | 6 | 377 |
| Retail sale of pets, pet food and pet supplies47762 | 1,326 | 128 | 8 | 1,463 |
| Retail sale of souvenirs and religious articles47784 | 1,094 | 151 | 5 | 318 |
| Retail sale of medical and orthopaedic goods, excluding prescription glasses and lenses47741 | 1,050 | 50 | 9 | 3,514 |
| Retail sale of footwear47721 | 1,015 | 52 | 8 | 2,991 |
| Retail sale of second-hand clothing47792 | 940 | 153 | 9 | 1,453 |
| Retail sale of other second-hand goods, excluding clothing47793 | 923 | 175 | 6 | 836 |
| Retail trade47715 | 664 | 86 | 1 | 249 |
| Retail trade47714 | 506 | 34 | 3 | 882 |
| Retail trade47713 | 488 | 47 | 6 | 440 |
| Retail trade47722 | 403 | 36 | 3 | 431 |
| Retail trade47783 | 338 | 30 | 3 | 706 |
| Retail trade47782 | 76 | 9 | 0 | - |
Bankruptcies per year in division 47
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 1,394 | 1,382 | 1,499 | 1,374 | 1,438 | 931 | 746 | 1,076 | 1,169 | 1,299 | 1,294 | 914 |
| Jobs lost | 2,893 | 3,468 | 2,913 | 2,713 | 2,892 | 4,088 | 2,112 | 2,125 | 4,156 | 3,933 | 3,511 | 2,092 |
2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 47
11,335 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €50,500 | €39,700 to €64,200 | 8,071 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €46,400 | €38,700 to €60,900 | 2,866 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €57,600 | €45,000 to €72,100 | 320 |
| 250 FTE or more | €58,400 | €47,500 to €70,900 | 78 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 47Measured nationally: Of 108,562 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).
This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 6 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.
177 of the 60,397 companies in NACE division 47 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (54), France (51) and Germany (15). Together they employ 30,846 of the division's 222,349 FTE: 14%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €389.9m awarded
- Federal transfers 11.7m amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €31.7m paid
- EU budget €76.1m attributed share
- EU research €8.6m EU contribution
Insights on Retail trade
Balance sheet and result. 22.6% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. The median net result of €9,278 is below Belgium's €16,520. Return on equity of 9.9% is below Belgium's 15.9%.
Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 13.3 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is more than in 93% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.5% is above Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. Brussels holds 20.6% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. Half of the companies are younger than 12.3 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 25.6% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium.
Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 143 of the 270 FTE: 52.9%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 20.6% in financial year 2020 to 29.8% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €748 in financial year 2020 to €9,278 in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 06-11-2026 05:30.
Method and sources
Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 47712 exists.
The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,581 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 698,987 registrations publish no activity.
Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.