Together, Comeos' member sectors account for 11 percent of GDP and employ some 550,000 people, making commerce the largest private sector employer. Comeos provides tailor-made services to its members and, as a networking platform, aims to support the dynamics of commerce.

Comeos acts on behalf of all types of commerce in Belgium:
- convenience stores and hypermarkets;
- wholesalers and retailers
- home sales;
- food and non-food shops;
- e-commerce and catalogue sales.

Restaurant chains, grouped within Bemora, as well as catering companies, part of the Belgian Catering Union, are also members of Comeos. The wholesaler-distributors of medicines are grouped within Comeos in the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (ANGR).
The sectors represented within Comeos are baby, books, catering, convenience, direct selling, DIY & garden, electro, fashion, general food, health & beauty, interior, kitchen, pharma, platforms, restaurants, specialized food retail, sports, toys & games and wholesale foodservices.

Priority missions

1/ Advocacy
Comeos defends the individual and collective interests of its members at local, regional, federal and European level. To this end, it maintains regular contacts with public authorities, trade unions, consumer associations and other professional organisations.

Comeos employees are present in a number of councils and commissions where they defend, as representatives, the interests of the sector.

2/ Advice
Specialised staff provide free, tailor-made advice on the problems that traders may face, particularly in social, economic, tax, legal, technical and environmental matters.

Our specialists also advise our members on issues of public health, product safety, business location and many other areas that are part of the daily life of today's retailer.

3/ Information
Comeos informs its members by means of weekly electronic newsletters, which keep them up to date with the latest trade news. Certain areas are covered in detail in brochures, such as those on shop opening hours, shop construction/renovation, product safety, etc.

4/ Network
Comeos offers a unique platform for exchanges between retailers, thanks to its organisation by sectors, which enables the players in a given branch of activity to be grouped together.