How did the summer of 2024 go for MediaMarkt & Co?

Belgian and Dutch electronics stores had an interesting summer in 2024. How do the market dynamics differ between the two countries? How does MediaMarkt’s market position differ? What was the impact of the European Championship? Accurat conducted a thorough analysis of the behaviour of Belgians and Dutch people at each of the involved consumer electronics stores.

MediaMarkt Leads the Consumer Electronics Market in the Netherlands

While MediaMarkt competes with other major chains like Krëfel, Vanden Borre, and Fnac in Belgium for the largest number of visitors, the chain is completely dominant in the Netherlands with a visitor share of nearly 45% among physical consumer electronics retail chains. Expert attracts nearly a quarter of the visitors. EP and Electroworld divide the remainder fairly evenly, each drawing about 14% of all visits.

Coolblue stores were not included in this analysis due to their significantly different business model. Additionally, the stores of the BCC chain, which went bankrupt at the end of 2023, were excluded from consideration. Out of 60 BCC stores, 13 made a restart, with eight taken over by MediaMarkt, three by Electro World, and two by EP (source). These stores were not factored into this like-for-like comparison.

The visitor shares of the various electronics stores remain fairly stable during this period compared to the same period last year. Only Electro World shows a slight gain, closing a 1 percentage point gap in visitor share with EP compared to the same period in 2023.

Also interesting are the dwell times in the electronics market. This is the time a shopper spends on average in each store. In the Netherlands, one store stands out, namely MediaMarkt, with an average dwell time of 31 minutes, above the market average of 29 minutes. Incidentally, this market average is similar in both countries.

Fragmented Landscape in Belgium with One Strong Group

In the Belgian market, a completely different picture emerges, with players that are not known in the Netherlands. Vanden Borre had the highest visitor share in Belgium during the summer of 2024, followed by Fnac, Krëfel, and only then MediaMarkt. Both Fnac and Vanden Borre are part of the Fnac Darty group, which dominates the market with more than 40%. In the past summer, Vanden Borre performed better than in the previous year, marking the biggest rise in visitor share in the Belgian market. This may be due to a strong performance during the summer sales, where Vanden Borre attracted many customers especially in the final week of the sales. Eldi also performed well in the last week of the sales, generally attracting a larger share of visitors than in the same period last year (June-July).

Fnac is the market player where visitors spend the most time. Other brands, including Vanden Borre, are close to the market average of 29 minutes, while Fnac stands out with 35 minutes. Additionally, this visit duration has even further increased compared to the summer of 2023. Fnac is a player in the market with an extremely wide range of products, including various electronics, books, comics, and even office furniture. It’s no surprise that shoppers tend to stay longer in stores with such a broad array of categories.

Who has claimed the largest share of all the minutes customers spent in electronics stores? This calculation for the "share of minutes" in June and July 2024 shows that Fnac surpasses its sister company Vanden Borre in total time spent by the respective share of customers, or the share of minutes.

Same same, but different: The Two Faces of MediaMarkt

An interesting difference between the Dutch and Belgian consumer electronics markets lies with MediaMarkt. The dominant Dutch branch of the company not only has a much larger visit share but also boasts a dwell time that is 10% higher than its Belgian counterpart—31 minutes versus 28 minutes. Nevertheless, the Belgian branches of MediaMarkt are certainly not performing poorly in this aspect, with a dwell time around the Belgian average. As previously mentioned, this average is significantly boosted by Fnac.

MediaMarkt Wins the Championship in TV Sales

A defining event of the summer of 2024 was the European Football Championship, which led to increased television sales for various consumer electronics retailers. Both Coolblue and MediaMarkt in the Netherlands reported a doubling of TV sales in a recent article. This spike in visitors was evident in week 26, the week before the start of the round of 16. During this week, MediaMarkt especially capitalised on this by significantly increasing its visitor share.

In Belgium, we also saw an increase in visits to electronics stores in week 26. However, this trend was less pronounced in Belgium. Despite Belgium being selected for the round of 16 like the Netherlands, and theoretically having an equal chance for a successful campaign, Belgian consumers were less eager to make purchases in week 26. Two possible reasons: Belgian consumers had less confidence in their national football team compared to Dutch consumers. More likely, the second explanation: Belgian consumers were less inclined to shop in the week leading up to the “solden” period (week 27), a time in Belgium characterised by significant discounts. This combination led to the Dutch electronics market performing much better than the Belgian one in week 26.

Conclusion

Although the Dutch and Belgian electronics retail markets are not directly comparable, a few interesting insights can still be drawn. There are some standouts in dwell time: MediaMarkt for the Dutch market and Fnac for the Belgian market. MediaMarkt also has a higher average dwell time in the Netherlands than in Belgium. Additionally, the European Championship had a much greater impact on the Dutch market than on the Belgian one.

About Accurat

Accurat is a leader in retail, media, and real estate location intelligence, active in BeNeLux and Germany. By analysing real-world behaviour and combining location data of your business, customers, and competitors, we empower you to make informed decisions. Our work was unofficially dubbed Market Research on Steroids by our customers due to our very large panel-sizes, the focus on actual behaviour, and near real time reporting.