Market size of e-commerce in the Netherlands 2005-2019

The Netherlands’ e-commerce market grew by nearly nine percent in 2019 when compared to 2018. That year, Dutch consumers spent roughly 26 billion euros on online purchases and orders. This makes the country the sixth-largest e-commerce market in Europe in absolute terms and one of only six European countries where online shopping made up more than three percent of GDP. Online shopping penetration varied between countries in Europe, with 63 percent of EU-28 consumers (60 percent of the EU-27 without the United Kingdom) using online shopping. The Netherlands was well above this average, with 81 percent of its people having bought something online.

COVID-19 to increase online purchases further

Unsurprisingly, the use of e-commerce in the Netherlands increased since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. Survey information from May 2020 revealed that all product categories saw an increase in online sales during lockdown. Interestingly, this increase is believed to persist in the future once COVID-19 has passed. Dutch consumers especially show an intention to keep buying hardware and tools online, whereas fashion is predicted to stay at the same level as it was before the pandemic. Online medication and online grocery shopping are also to see an increase but are believed to still play a relatively marginal role in Dutch e-commerce.

A preference for offline supermarkets

Before the coronavirus hit the Netherlands, its market size for online grocery shopping was believed to have stabilized at roughly one billion euros at the end of 2019. This according to survey results. The same source behind this survey revealed that the Netherlands’ interest in online supermarkets (a market share of three percent) was higher than that in Germany (one percent), but significantly lower than in the United Kingdom (7.5 percent) or France (5.6 percent). Whether online grocery shopping is to increase significantly after COVID-19 in the Netherlands remains to be seen. Consumer behavior from March to May 2020 suggests that offline supermarket visits did not decrease as significantly as in other retail outlets.