EU webshops generate €455 million in the Netherlands

Sales to Dutch consumers generated by European webshops have more than doubled over a four-year period. These concern online purchases of goods from companies located within the European Union but outside the Netherlands. For all foreign webshops which record product sales to Dutch consumers exceeding 100 thousand euros per year, VAT declarations in the Netherlands are compulsory. These VAT declarations have been used as the data source. Small webshops have not been included in the survey, which results in an underestimation of the total amount spent by Dutch consumers in European webshops. Figures have been calculated on the basis of a method which is still under development and are therefore provisional. The margin of error in relation to total turnover amounts to approximately 5 percent.

Domestic online sales increase slightly more rapidly

In Q2 2018, webshops registered in the Netherlands saw internet sales go up by nearly 19 percent compared to one year previously. This is slightly higher than the turnover growth realised by European webshops from sales to Dutch consumers in this period (18 percent). Internet turnover generated by webshops based in the Netherlands grew by over 14 percent in Q2; Dutch retail companies with internet sales aside from their brick-and-mortar shop(s) recorded 26 percent in online turnover growth. Total turnover in the Dutch retail sector rose by over 4 percent in the same quarter.

Turnover share of European webshops small

To Dutch consumers, the distinction between domestic and foreign webshops tends to be blurry. Webshops are often multilingual and foreign webshops may have a Dutch version. Purchases made by Dutch customers in European webshops are relatively small. In 2017, these accounted for less than 2 percent of total retail turnover generated in the Netherlands.