The Netherlands

Dutch startup VonWood, a trade platform for wood, has raised 2.7 million euros. The company aims to connect wood buyers and lumbers more directly online, while offering more product transparency. With the funds, VonWood wants to accelerate growth.

The Dutch government wants online liquor stores to stop offering ‘buy now, pay later’ as a payment method. If they do not find alternative payment methods, the government will come up with legal measures. The payment method lowers the threshold to buy alcohol.

Dutch ecommerce giant Bol.com is cutting approximately 10 percent of its staff. This comes down to 300 jobs. The company needs to save a total of 225 million euros over the next three years. The growth of the online store has come to a halt.

German supermarket Lidl has opened its European distribution center in Roosendaal, in the Netherlands. Eventually, all of Lidl’s online orders in Europe will be fulfilled through this center. In order to do this, it will gradually expand its work force and inventory.

As lockdowns were lifted earlier this year, the amount of online sales has dropped in the Netherlands. The total decline in online revenue is expected to reach 3 percent in 2022. However, online turnover growth will reach between 5 and 10 percent next year as a result of inflation.

ChannelEngine, a Dutch marketplace integration platform, has partnered with TikTok Shop. TikTok’s social commerce feature has faced problems in Europe. Partnering with multiple ecommerce companies, including ChannelEngine, is hoped to help.

The Dutch branch of Instabox has been declared bankrupt. Instabox, known for its red parcel lockers, only recently declared to join forces with parcel deliverer Budbee under the name Instabee.

After red numbers in the first and second quarter, Dutch marketplace Bol.com made 1,2 billion euros in revenue in Q3. That is an increase of 5,6 percent. This is mostly thanks to its 51.000 third-party sellers, who account for nearly 60 percent of sales.

Ecommerce lending startup Lemonero is launching its platform in the Netherlands. It is the second expansion after a launch in Central and Eastern Europe last year. It already announced plans to expand into the DACH region, next year.

Dutch logistics company PostNL is opening up its network of parcel lockers to other carriers in 2023. Additionally, the company will expand its network of 400 parcel lockers to 1,500 lockers by 2024 across the country. The move will make it easier for consumers to receive and send parcels.

During the first quarter of this year, 74 percent of Dutch consumers bought services or goods online. This is a decrease of 3 percent when compared to the same period a year earlier. Consumers also bought less physical than digital products online.

Shopify is expanding its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) program to Europe. The program, which offers Shopify integrations for merchants, first launched last year. The company is working with local ERP software companies from the Netherlands, Germany and Spain for the European launch.

Amazon is gaining footing in the top of Dutch ecommerce. It outpaces Zalando and Wehkamp in 4th place. Bol.com remains number 1. For the first time in years, electronics store Coolblue is not the second largest online seller in the Netherlands. Albert Heijn passes the store by just 30 million euros.

During the first half of 2022, consumers in the Netherlands spent 16.1 billion euros online. This is a 9 percent growth when compared to the same period a year earlier. The growth mostly stems from a rise in online sales of services.

Dutch payments fintech Mollie is launching a new financial service, Mollie Capital. Merchants can now apply for a cash advance up to 250,000 euros. The company is planning to launch other additional services in the future.