Netherlands in EU top 5 online shopping

Online shopping has surged across the entire European Union. In 2007, 30 percent of the population purchased goods and/or services via the web. This percentage had almost doubled to 57 percent by 2017. In the Netherlands as in neighbouring countries, online shopping has expanded enormously. Nowadays, it is most common in the United Kingdom, where 82 percent shopped online in 2017. In Germany, 75 percent bought goods or services via the Internet. Belgium had considerably fewer e-shoppers: 60 percent.

Sharp increase in online purchases of clothes and sporting goods

The most popular category of products purchased online in the EU are clothes or sporting goods. Over half of the Dutch population bought this type of products via the web. The share of Dutch people ordering clothes or sporting goods online tripled from 19 percent in 2007 to 57 percent in 2017. Only the United Kingdom had an even larger share, namely 61 percent.

Netherlands leading in online grocery shopping

Until 2006, consumers hardly purchased food products via the Internet. Online sales increased steadily in subsequent years. From 2013 onwards, the number of people shopping online for food has grown considerably. In 2017, the share of Dutch consumers purchasing food items on the Internet was the highest within the European Union: 29 percent (14 percent on average). For the first time, this percentage was higher than in the UK, which had been leading until that year.

Late deliveries most common problem

Delivering online purchases does not always go without a hitch. Late deliveries are cited as the most common problem. Of the Dutch consumers, 24 percent experience a late delivery of a product they had ordered. This percentage has been stable in recent years.

In the EU as a whole, 17 percent of the consumers say that products are delivered late from time to time.