Dutch online spending increased by 13 percent in Q1 2018

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Jun 8, 2018

In the first quarter of 2018, Dutch consumers spent €6.25 billion at online stores. This is a 13 percent rise, compared to the same period last year.

Of the €6.25 billion that Dutch consumers spent online, €3.30 billion was spent on products and €2.95 billion on the online purchase of services. As a result, online spending on products grew faster, up 16 percent year-on-year, than online spending on services - up 10 percent - compared to Q1 2017. In total, 51.98 million purchases were made in the first three months of 2018, a rise of 17 percent, reported e-commerce sector network Thuiswinkel.

In addition, a revenue of €26.30 billion in online sales is expected for the entire 2018 fiscal year, which means a growth of 17% compared to 2017. Dutch consumers are expected to purchase about 240 million products online in 2018, an increase of 19 percent.

Wijnand Jongen, director at Thuiswinkel.org, said in a press release: “The Dutch retail market is looking forward to an interesting year. The new privacy law, of course, has an impact on the business operations of retailers and innovative developments from home and abroad [will] also present the necessary challenges. These positive figures for 2018 show that the Dutch online retail market can cope well with this and, above all, will benefit from these changes.”

Thuiswinkel.org said that online purchases via Smartphone also increased in Q1 2018. In the first quarter of 2017 Dutch consumer made 4.89 million purchases via their Smartphone, this number rose 65 percent to 8.08 million purchases in Q1 2018. At the moment, 16 percent of all online purchases are made via smartphone, compared to 11 percent in Q1 2017. The average value of a smartphone’s online shopping basket is €69.

Ine Polak, Consultant Retail and eCommerce at GfK, added: “For the time being, the growth of mobile shopping does not seem to weaken. Mobile websites and apps are becoming user-friendlier in all kinds of areas, and the consumer is becoming more and more familiar with the phenomenon.”

The Thuiswinkel market research, commissioned by Thuiswinkel.org, was conducted by German market research institute GfK in collaboration with Dutch postal service PostNL.