Xin Ou
Research expert covering Greater China
E-commerce in the Netherlands - statistics & facts
The Dutch have been at the forefront of the digitalization of retail since the advent of the internet. Back in 1999, before there was a noteworthy e-commerce landscape in Europe, a now dominant online marketplace launched as one of Europe’s first online bookstores; and no, this one was not named after a South American river. Bol.com may have been the first, but as of 2024, it is not the only successful homegrown e-tailer the Netherlands. This early online shopping adoption has led to a rapidly growing e-commerce revenue in the Netherlands, measured at nearly 35 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.
Still, the quarterly cross-border spending amounts to one billion euros. Cross-border web shops from the United States and China top the list of foreign shops by net sales. Furthermore, estimated cross-border spending intentions of Dutch consumers indicate that media and entertainment will continue to be the most popular category to buy from abroad in the next few years.
Domestic or cross-border?
The online retail industry in the Netherlands is largely dominated by domestic companies. The biggest online stores in the Netherlands include local players like online hypermarket Bol.com, electronics retailer Coolblue, and the supermarket Albert Heijn. With a significantly lower share of visits than other Dutch e-commerce sites, e-commerce giant Amazon is still among the most popular platforms, but a staggering 96 percent of Dutch consumers purchase on national sites compared to only 40 percent on foreign websites.Still, the quarterly cross-border spending amounts to one billion euros. Cross-border web shops from the United States and China top the list of foreign shops by net sales. Furthermore, estimated cross-border spending intentions of Dutch consumers indicate that media and entertainment will continue to be the most popular category to buy from abroad in the next few years.
Payment preferences
Dutch customers like to use digital applications and bank transfers for their e-commerce payments. Large national banks have been working with online banking apps for years now, moving the majority of Dutch banking activity to the digital sphere. The high use of bank transfers is due to the popularity of iDEAL, a Dutch inter-bank system which allows shoppers to use their bank accounts for online purchases. Nine in ten online shoppers used iDEAL for online payments in 2024. International payment providers such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Paypal, are slowly finding their place in the Dutch e-payment market as well. However, much like Amazon, these corporate giants are still trailing behind the Dutch national market leaders.
