The Netherlands: One in every 10 retail purchases in the Netherlands is now made online

Web shops continue to grow in popularity, ringing up a record €22.5bn in sales in 2017, sector organisation Thuiswinkel reported on Friday morning. One in every 10 retail purchases is now made online,

Thuiswinkel said. Buyers in the Netherlands totted up more than 201 million online purchases last year and the total bill was up 13% on 2016. Holiday sales, centred around Black Friday and Single’s Day, contributed heavily to the total sales.

In 2017, 95% of Dutch consumers aged 15 and older made an online purchase of goods or services, the report revealed. ‘Web shops get a lot of attention during sales and holiday campaigns. That’s how we capture the first buyers for Sinterklaas.

 On the downside, sales in these periods are at lower prices which pressure profit margins,’

Thuiswinkel.org’s Wijnand Jongen said. Jongen expects web shops will create more shop holiday occasions, ‘on Mother’s Day, for example, or around special school events.’ The last three months of the year with its many holidays now account for 33% of all online retail sales,’ he said. Health and beauty

Read more: One in every 10 retail purchases in the Netherlands is now made online - DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands: Ecommerce in the Netherlands was worth €20.16 billion in 2016

Last year, e-commerce in the Netherlands was worth 20.16 billion euros. This corresponds with an increase of 23 percent compared to the situation in 2015. The Dutch especially love to buy shoes and lifestyle products online, as well as IT and (near)food products.

These are the key findings from the Ecommerce Report The Netherlands 2017, published by EcommerceWiki, together with Dutch ecommerce association Thuiswinkel.org and research company GfK. The Netherlands remains an attractive online market. Despite its relative few inhabitants (17 million), the country has an internet penetration of almost 94 percent and a steadily increasing GDP per capita of 40.900 euros.

In the beginning of this year, consumer confidence has grown 14 points, which has resulted in an increase in consumer spending. Last year, the Dutch spent 20.16 billion euros online, of which 75 percent was spent on services such as travel and insurances. For 2017, a growth percentage of 20 percent is expected, which should result in the Dutch ecommerce market being worth over 24 billion euros.

Growth of ecommerce in the Netherlands
15.2 million shoppers spent on average €116 per transaction

A quarter of every euro spent online in the Netherlands, was spent on products. Media and entertainment products were bought the most in terms of transactions, followed by event tickets and fashion items. Last year, 15.2 million online shoppers spent on average 116 euros per transaction and spent a total amount of 1.242 euros online.

“However, the Ecommerce market in the Netherlands is not an easy one to enter”, Ecommerce Wiki writes. “Although Dutch are quite fluent in English, they still prefer to shop online in Dutch. Likewise, the local payment method Ideal (57 percent market share) is a must have to sell online in the Netherlands.”

There are currently over 32,000 online stores registered at the Chamber of Commerce, but the actual number of online stores in the Netherlands is estimated to be as high as 50,000 or more. Nonetheless, Dutch consumers also like to shop online across the border. Last year, a quarter of the Dutch (26 percent) bought cross-border at popular websites like Amazon and Zalando. For Dutch cross-border shoppers, China is currently the most popular country to shop abroad.

Read more: E-commerce in the Netherlands was worth €20.16 billion in 2016