Half of online shoppers have complaints

Dutch people increasingly shop via the internet and purchase more items. In 2019, 79 percent of the over-12s, i.e. around 11.8 million people, indicated they had made an online purchase. This was 70 percent in 2015. Late delivery of the ordered products is one of the most frequent problems among online shoppers; one-third (34 percent) had complaints about this, while in 2015 this share was still less than one-quarter (23 percent).

The second and third most cited complaints are technical problems during the ordering and payment process (14 percent) and receiving incorrect or damaged goods (13 percent). In 2015, these two complaints were reported slightly less frequently at 12 and 9 percent respectively.

Difficulty in finding warranty information, in lodging a complaint and no delivery in the Netherlands were quoted by around 8 percent. The percentage of online shopping fraud victims as a result of goods or services not being delivered has hardly changed.

More recent e-shoppers

The growing number of Dutch people shopping online is partly due to the sharp rise in recent e-shoppers over the past few years. Recent e-shoppers are those who had made online purchases in the three months prior to the survey. In 2019, 64 percent belong to this group, while this was 10 percentage points lower four years previously.

Out of the 11.8 million online shoppers this year, 9.5 million indicated they had done so in the past three months. Eleven percent (1.6 million) said they had never made an online purchase, versus 15 percent in 2015.

Number and value of purchases rising

Not only has the number of online shoppers gone up, they have also made purchases more frequently in recent years. In the three months prior to the survey, 23 percent of the Dutch had made three, four or five online purchases. This was still 20 percent in 2015. Nearly one-fifth purchased something more than six times, against 10 percent in 2015.

The amount spent on purchased items is rising as well. Amounts spent online were most likely to be between 100 and 500 euros; 26 percent of the Dutch population made purchases in this price category this year. This was 21 percent in 2015. Online purchases of thousand euros or more were made by 5 percent.

Men are more likely to purchase via the internet and they also spend more on average. Ten percent of men said they had made more than ten online purchases in the three months prior to the survey, versus 8 percent of women. Furthermore, 15 percent of men and 9 percent of women had spent a total of five hundred euros or more in this period.

Mainly clothing and sports items

In 2019, the items most frequently bought online were clothing or sports goods (55 percent), trips and accommodation (52 percent), and tickets for events (47 percent). Ordering meals at a restaurant, fast food chain or meal delivery service was mentioned by 35 percent.

The strongest increase was seen in the categories food, cosmetics or cleaning, and household goods and appliances. Of all goods and services bought online, films or music and tickets for events showed the lowest increase in sales.

Traditional shopping sometimes preferred

Around 2.2 million Dutch people indicated they had not made any online purchases in the year prior to the survey. As a main reason, 80 percent said they preferred to visit a shop, for example to check out the merchandise. Nearly three in ten were concerned about security and privacy and did not want to submit credit card details or other personal data. Over one-quarter indicated they did not know how make an online purchase.