A web shop and online bookings on your own website

Why let customers order or book online?

Because people no longer want to phone during office hours. They make up their minds on the sofa in the evening or on a Sunday morning, and they want to order or book there and then. If they can’t do that with you, they’ll go somewhere they can.

For you it means fewer calls interrupting your work, fewer scraps of paper and fewer mistakes. Every order or booking arrives with all the details you need. And people who order or book online once tend to come back, because next time it’s just as easy.

Which web shop or booking setup fits your business?

It depends a lot on the trade. A bakery has little use for a shop with shipping, but order slots work well: sandwiches for lunch, cakes with a pick-up time. At Boulangerie L’Héritage in Grez-Doiceau, customers order their sandwiches ahead this way.

A beekeeper or a farm, on the other hand, sells products that are shipped or collected, like Miel d’Enghien. A football club needs kit per player and per team, as in the Promosport shop. Le Glacetronome in Namur only opens a small shop around Christmas, for its ice cream bûches. And a holiday home needs a calendar, not a shopping basket.

We also build modules for other trades: appointments for a practice or salon, gift vouchers, member areas, waiting lists, a places-left counter, or a condolence register for a funeral home.

Can your own booking engine sit alongside Booking.com?

Yes, and for many owners it’s the best combination. The platforms bring you new guests; your own site lets returning guests and people who find you on Google book direct, without high commissions. The calendars are synced, so a night booked on one channel is blocked on the other straight away, and double bookings stop happening.

That’s what we set up for Huyze Basco, four holiday homes in a converted café in Reningelst, West Flanders.

How do we keep it simple to run?

A shop or booking system is only as good as the day-to-day management behind it. We set everything up so you can change products, availability and orders yourself, and we show you how. Where possible, the site is linked to your till, your stock system or your booking platform. For Detry Pompes in Naninne, for instance, we are building a WooCommerce shop that connects to their ERP, because every pump comes with many options and settings that must match.

If you’d rather hand it off, small changes during the year are covered by the maintenance package. That package also includes hosting and the domain, updates, backups and security, which matters even more on a site that takes payments.

How do customers find your web shop?

A web shop nobody finds sells nothing. We write product pages and room descriptions using the words people search for, add the right structured data for products and accommodation, and get your Google Business Profile in order. That way your offer and your reviews show up on Google and in AI assistants’ answers.

What’s the next step?

Have a look below at how other businesses sell or take bookings online. Then tell us in your quote request what you want to sell or rent out and how you work today; Louis will suggest a setup that fits.