Cosmetics enters top five fastest-growing e-commerce categories in the Netherlands

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Sep 29, 2017

Buying cosmetics online is becoming much more popular in the Netherlands. In the first half of 2017, the industry has shown a 41 percent growth in online spending compared to the first half of 2016, making cosmetics one of the five fastest-growing categories of Dutch e-commerce sales. Last year the sector did not enter the top 5 of fastest-growing market segments, e-commerce network Thuiswinkel reported.

Increased demand for product promotions is amongst the factors generating online sales growth in the personal care and cosmetics sector. According to Euromonitor, non-store retailing for beauty and personal care products is on the up in 2017, as price-conscious Dutch customers seek out the best deals across channels.

The overall spending on e-commerce sites grew by 13% from €9,53 billion in HY1 2016 to €10,7 billion in HY1 2017. Other sectors that entered the top 5 of largest growing market segments are the toy industry (+43%), apparel (+28%), home (+26%) and event tickets (+24%). In HY1 2016 the largest growing sectors in online spending were the toy industry (+49%), insurances (+46%), IT (+46%), shoes and personal lifestyle (+45%) and food/near food (+43%), a slightly different group of products.

Online shopping in general is growing in the Netherlands. In August, Statistics Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek) reported 75% growth in online clothing stores alone between 2013 and 2017.