The case for a shopping app in Ghent
Ghent is a capital of east flanders province, belgium, where around 273,000 people live and shop, and one of the markets in Belgium where we build mobile commerce apps.
Businesses here work in biotech and tech startups; many are based around the city centre and Technologiepark.
Logistics are supported by Port of Ghent, which matters when you promise customers fast delivery.
Belgium has SMEs make up 99% of all businesses in the European Union (European Commission). Belgian shoppers expect bilingual Dutch/French stores and Bancontact at checkout. Many still buy from Dutch and French sites, so local stock and fast delivery are a real edge.
For a business in Ghent, the opportunity is to own the customer relationship: your own shopping app keeps your margin, your data and your brand, while marketplaces and social channels become additional sales routes instead of the only one.
Local details we build into every Ghent project
Conversion in Ghent depends on small local signals — the right currency, the right words and the right payment and courier names.
Currency and pricing
Prices, taxes, shipping and refunds are shown in euro (EUR), formatted the way Ghent customers read them.
Language and content
Content can be produced in Dutch, French and German, so a Ghent customer reads the store in the language they use at home.
Local trust signals
We add the payment logos, courier names and policy pages shoppers in Ghent recognise: Bancontact and Visa and Mastercard and delivery through bpost.
Domain, phone and contact
A .be domain (or your own) builds local trust and search relevance. Click-to-call and WhatsApp buttons use the +32 calling code so customers reach you without dialling errors.
Talent and partners nearby
Ghent draws on Ghent University, which means plenty of local staff, interns and technology partners to run the store after launch.
Designed to your requirements, not a template
Ghent businesses tell us what they sell and how they want to sell it; our engineers turn that into a custom shopping app, an admin system and a mobile app shaped around their operations.
In Ghent we typically work with retail brands, grocery and pharmacy chains, restaurants and cloud kitchens and distributors with dealer networks, and with sellers in categories such as fashion, electronics, food and chocolate and home that have strong online demand in Belgium.
We start with a requirements meeting, show you a working demo within 24 hours, and only then propose scope, milestones and budget.
What your shopping app includes
Each module below is configured — or custom-developed — to your requirements. You choose what launches first and what follows in later phases.
Customer shopping app
Browse, search, wish-lists, cart, wallet and UPI or card checkout, order tracking and push offers. Reports show which products, customers and areas of Ghent drive revenue.
Dealer and B2B app
Account pricing, quick re-order, statements, schemes and barcode scanning for trade buyers. Storefront language, imagery and navigation are set up for Ghent shoppers and available in Dutch and French.
Delivery partner app
Assigned orders, route navigation, proof of delivery, COD collection and status updates. Bulk import and sync tools mean the Ghent team never re-keys stock, prices or descriptions by hand.
Store and admin app
Order alerts, stock updates, price changes and sales snapshots for owners and managers. Customers in Ghent can pay with Bancontact, Visa and Mastercard and PayPal, with receipts and refunds handled in the same admin.
Engagement
Segmented push notifications, deep links, in-app banners, loyalty and referral programmes. Delivery can be booked through bpost, PostNL Belgium and DPD or dispatched by your own riders around Ghent.
Performance and offline
Fast native-feel UI, image caching, offline cart and graceful handling of poor networks. Multiple stock points in Belgium are supported, so a Ghent order ships from the nearest one.
Businesses that use NNT Mart in Ghent
Popular online categories in Belgium include fashion, electronics, food and chocolate, home, beauty and books. Local demand in Ghent is shaped by biotech and tech startups, so we often design catalogues and B2B ordering around those sectors. In Ghent, we most often build mobile commerce apps for:
Retail brands
We map how retail brands sell today and digitise it end to end — from enquiry and order to payment, dispatch and repeat purchase.
Grocery and pharmacy chains
For grocery and pharmacy chains, we usually start with delivery partner app, then add payment SDKs and wallets once orders are flowing.
Restaurants and cloud kitchens
Catalogue, pricing and fulfilment rules designed for restaurants and cloud kitchens in Ghent, connected to the systems you already use.
Distributors with dealer networks
Distributors with dealer networks get store and admin app plus performance and offline workflows tailored to their operations.
D2C start-ups
We map how D2C start-ups sell today and digitise it end to end — from enquiry and order to payment, dispatch and repeat purchase.
Marketplace operators
For marketplace operators, we usually start with customer shopping app, then add barcode and QR scanning once orders are flowing.
Payments customers in Ghent expect
Checkout is where most online sales are won or lost. In Belgium, customers expect to pay with Bancontact, Visa and Mastercard and PayPal, and many also look for Payconiq, Apple Pay and KBC/CBC Pay.
Gateway selection depends on your category and merchant approval; we connect the provider, reconcile payments, automate retries and refunds, and never store raw card data. Prices, taxes and refunds appear in euro (EUR).
Business buyers around the city centre often want invoices or bank transfer, while consumers lean on Bancontact. We support both flows.
- Apple Pay
- Payconiq
- Visa and Mastercard
- KBC/CBC Pay
- Bancontact
- PayPal
Delivery and fulfilment from Ghent
Your shopping app can book shipments and share tracking with bpost, PostNL Belgium, DPD, GLS, DHL and Mondial Relay, or route orders to your own riders and stores across Ghent.
We set up shipping zones, cut-off times, free-shipping thresholds, cash-collection rules and returns so the promise on the product page matches what your team can deliver.
Connectivity in the area — Port of Ghent — makes regional and national dispatch from Ghent practical.
Owning your channel in Belgium
Many Ghent sellers already list on Bol, Amazon (FR/NL/DE), Coolblue, Zalando, 2ememain and Vanden Borre. Those channels bring traffic, but they also take commission, control the customer relationship and change rules without notice.
NNT Mart gives you a channel you own: your domain, your customer list, your pricing and your brand. Where it helps, we connect product feeds and orders from marketplaces so stock stays in sync and your team works from one dashboard.
Compliance built into your shopping app
For Ghent sellers, tax first: Belgian VAT is 21% standard with 12% and 6% reduced rates; B2B e-invoicing via Peppol is mandatory from 2026.
Two frameworks shape the build: the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy rules on cookies and marketing consent, enforced by the Belgian Data Protection Authority, and the EU Consumer Rights Directive (14-day withdrawal right), the Digital Services Act and, from June 2025, the European Accessibility Act for online shops and Book VI of the Code of Economic Law.
Controls we implement include compliant invoices, consent capture, policy pages, restricted staff access and audit trails. Please confirm the final legal and tax position with a local adviser in Ghent.
Add a mobile app for Ghent customers
Phones carry most traffic in Belgium. Every app is published under your own Google Play and Apple developer accounts, with crash reporting, analytics and release management included.
One backend serves the website and the apps, and the apps ship under your own Google Play and App Store accounts — so what you change once appears everywhere.
Order alerts, offers and abandoned-cart reminders go out on Ghent time (UTC+2), in Dutch and French if you want.
- Commerce APIs and headless backends
- Customer support chat
- Social login
- Barcode and QR scanning
- Payment SDKs and wallets
- Analytics and crash reporting
- Maps and location services
- Firebase and push messaging
Integrations above are examples; we connect any system that offers a suitable API, database access or approved import and export process.
How we phase your shopping app
Value first, depth later. For a shopping app serving Ghent, the usual sequence looks like this:
| Phase | What goes live |
|---|---|
| MVP app | Core shopping, checkout, order tracking and push notifications. Configured for EUR, Bancontact and bpost from the start. |
| Engage | Loyalty, referrals, personalised offers and deep links. |
| Extend | Dealer, delivery and admin apps on the same backend. Reviewed against how Ghent customers actually buy. |
Success is measured on app installs and active users, app conversion rate, push-notification click rate, crash-free sessions, store rating and share of revenue from app — tracked on a dashboard you can see from launch day.
Working with our team from Ghent
Our team covers UTC+2 — 3h 30m behind India (IST) — through three 8-hour shifts, so a Ghent client always reaches someone during the local working day.
We work in English and can deliver storefront content in Dutch, German and French. NDAs are signed on request, and you get a named project lead plus direct access to the engineers building your shopping app.
Our head office is in Chhapi, Gujarat, with an office in Hyderabad and representation in Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia and Zambia; Ghent clients are served remotely with on-site workshops when the project needs them.
