More and more e-shoppers in the Netherlands

More than seven in ten Dutch consumers purchased something online in 2015, i.e. more than twice as many as a decade ago. In the other EU countries, the number of e-shoppers in the age category 16-74 is also growing. In 2005, one-quarter of Europeans were e-shoppers, versus more than half in 2015.
In the United Kingdom, Denmark, Luxembourg and Germany more people buy goods and services online than in the Netherlands. In countries in Eastern Europe, like Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania, e-shopping is far less common and fewer people are connected to the internet.

Few online purchases outside the Netherlands

Few Dutch consumers buy goods and services online in other EU countries. Nearly one-third occasionally buy something online in other EU countries, but the majority of e-shoppers only buy domestically. The number of web shops in the Netherlands has risen dramatically in recent years: from 15 thousand in 2010 to more than 32 thousand in 2015.
Apart from Luxembourg - where almost 90 percent of e-shoppers buy goods or services from other EU countries - online shoppers across the European Union prefer to buy domestically. In Luxembourg, on the other hand, relatively few consumers buy online domestically (28 percent).
The European Commission has investigated what the reasons are for people to refrain from buying goods or services in foreign web shops. Part of the web shops do not accept foreign customers. Delivery is also a recurring problem and many consumers lack confidence in foreign web shops.

Most online purchases between 100 and 500 euros

Forty percent of Dutch e-shoppers spend between 100 and 500 euros per online purchase, approximately the same amount as the average European e-shopper. Within the EU, internet shoppers seldom spend larger amounts. E-shoppers in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg more often spend large amounts (1 thousand euros or more). Dutch consumers less often buy expensive goods or services online.