Consumers in the Netherlands spent 10% more online in 2018, with the food sector leading growth.
Research by ecommerce benchmarking agency Thuiswinkel found that online shoppers in the country spent €23.7 billion last year in 242 million transactions. The survey found 96% of consumers over 15 now shop online, a 2% increase since the previous year.
The sector leading growth was online food shopping, which rose 24%. However, the growth in food was lower than in 2017, during which it rose 35%.
The mobile channel saw particularly strong growth. In the fourth quarter of 2018, 35% of online buyers used their smartphone during an online purchase compared to 28% the year before.
The share of sales over laptops and desktops fell, falling from 52% to 50% and from 33% to 32% respectively.
Wijnand Jongen, director of Thuiswinkel.org, said: “In total, online spending on products amounted to € 13.1 billion in 2018, 1 bringing the share of the ecommerce industry to 9.6% in the entire retail sector.
“This means an increase of 0.5 percentage point compared to 2017. With the growth in the number of Dutch consumers who shop via the internet and the still increasing market share of online turnover, we can state that ecommerce is playing an increasingly important role. within the retail trade.”