In the first half of 2024, Dutch consumers spent €17.5 billion on online retail, a 6% increase compared to the same period in 2023, although the number of products purchased declined. The growth mainly stems from services, such as health and damage insurance.
These insights come from the latest Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor, conducted by GfK on behalf of Thuiswinkel.org and Retail Insiders, in collaboration with PostNL and Betaalvereniging Nederland. Nearly one-third of all retail spending now occurs online, though the total number of purchases dropped by 2% to 173 million.
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Growth in services, decline in product purchases
The growth in ecommerce in The Netherlands is mainly driven by services (+13%), including health and damage insurance (+27%). Ticket sales for attractions and events also increased, partly due to the Olympic Games in France.
Spending on products remained relatively stable, with a modest growth of 1%, while the number of product purchases decreased by 4%. Notably, the categories Shoes & Personal Lifestyle and Food/Nearfood saw a decline of 11%.
Differences by category
The share of online retail spending varies significantly by category. Services are more frequently purchased online than products. For instance, only 8% of spending in the Food/Nearfood category takes place online, which lowers the overall online spending average. Excluding this category, consumers spend 37% of their retail budget on products online.
Cross-Border purchases on the rise
The number of purchases made outside the Netherlands increased by 6% to 20.3 million, with Chinese webshops being particularly popular. Online spending at foreign webshops rose by 16% to €2.3 billion. In the first half of 2024, Dutch consumers made 6 million purchases from China, with an average spend of €41 per purchase. This is significantly lower than the average in the Netherlands (€101) or other European countries, such as Germany (€110).
Smartphone usage and payment methods
Although the number of purchases via smartphones has plateaued, the share of total online spending through smartphones rose from 25% to 28%, indicating higher transaction amounts via mobile devices. The use of iDEAL as a payment method also saw a slight increase, primarily at the expense of credit card payments.
