Revenue of online retailer Bol.com 2012-2018

Statistic | What is the revenue of Bol.com? In 2018, net consumer sales on the online marketplace (including both the Netherlands and Belgium) were worth 2.1 billion euros, an increase of more than 32 percent to the previous year. Net consumer online sales are online sales including sales by third parties on the platform. Much like on Amazon, sales on the Dutch website can either come from the retailer itself, third parties or from a second-hand goods section. As of 2018, 36 percent of survey respondents in the Netherlands reported to use this second-hand part of the website.

Bol.com and Coolblue are the Netherlands’ leading web shops

One might expect Amazon to be the biggest online store in the Netherlands, as this company can be found all over the world and is active in multiple European countries. In a ranking based on revenue made by direct online sales, however, Amazon was believed to be only the seventh online retailer of the Netherlands. Bol.com topped the list, followed by electronics retailer Coolblue. The total revenue of this Rotterdam-based web shop was around 1.3 billion euros in 2018.

The Dutch tend to do their online purchases domestically

Compared to other European countries, Dutch consumers are less likely to buy online from foreign retailers. This might be caused by two reasons. First, the Bol.com brand (as well as the supermarket brand Albert Heijn, which have the same owner) is a household name in Dutch society and people are familiar with it. Another reason might be in the ease of use: like most Dutch online e-commerce retailers, Bol.com offers iDEAL (which allows Dutch shoppers to use their bank debit cards for online purchases) as a payment method.