The Dutch spent €2.6 billion online in Europe

Last year, Dutch consumers spent nearly 2.6 billion euros on purchases from foreign online shops within the European Union. This amounts to an increase of almost 32 percent compared to the situation a year earlier.

In 2019, consumers in the Netherlands spent 1.9 billion euros in European online shops. This year, they spent over 600 million euros more. According to Statistics Netherlands, which presented this figures today, it has never happened before that the annual expenditure of the Dutch at online shops in the EU increased so much.

Online sales by EU online shops to Dutch consumers

Almost quadrupled in seven years

When you look at the table above, you can see what amount of money Dutch consumers spent at foreign web shops within the EU. In 2014, even less than 700 million euros was spent. So it means the amount has almost quadrupled in seven years.

Statistics Netherlands explains how online purchases at foreign ecommerce websites increased strongly, especially in the last three quarters of last year, with growth rates of 30 to 38 percent. This is totally understandable, as just before the transition to the second quarter, the Netherlands was faced with the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak.

Online turnover in the Netherlands increased by 40%

But it wasn’t just the turnover of foreign ecommerce websites that increased considerably, online sales also increased in the Netherlands. While the ecommerce turnover rose by 22.1 percent in 2015 (compared to the previous year), the annual increase in online turnover last year was more than 40 percent.

This increase is mainly attributable to omnichannel players. Their turnover increased by more than half compared to 2019. The turnover of the online-only players also rose sharply, by almost 36 percent.