Online turnover statistics
What does the survey comprise?
Purpose
The survey underlying online turnover statistics gives an insight into changes in turnover generated by online sales in the Dutch retail sector.
Target population
Enterprises that are economically active and that are principally active in retail trade in the period under review. Retail trade refers to the sale of new and/or used goods not produced by the seller to consumers (not professional users). The survey covers enterprises with ten or more employees, petrol stations and dispensing chemists are not included. The online turnover of these enterprises accounts for about 70 percent of total online retail sales.
Statistical unit
Enterprises
Date/year survey started
The figures are available as from January 2014.
Frequency
Monthly.
Publication strategy
Statistics Netherlands usually publishes the first results six to eight weeks after the reporting period. Definite figures are only revised if significant adjustments or corrections are necessary.
How is the survey carried out?
Survey type
Sample survey among:
- enterprises in retail sale via mail order and internet (SIC 47.91) with ten or more employees
- enterprises in retail branches (SIC 47) other than retail sale via mail order and internet with 50 or more employees
A model is applied in order to estimate the online turnover for enterprises with 10 to 49 employees within the retail branches other than retail sale via mail order and internet.
Survey method
Data on online turnover are collected as part of the Monthly Retail Survey. Respondents may submit the required data electronically or on paper.
Respondents
Enterprises.
Sample size
The sample for online retail statistics comprises about 750 enterprises. These enterprises are also included in the Monthly Retail Survey.
Checking and correction methods
Statistics Netherlands conducts plausibility checks on data received from enterprises. The figures are compared with those for previous months/quarters and those for the same month or quarter of the previous year. If inconsistencies are established, they are corrected automatically or manually.
Weighting
The survey data of the responding enterprises are raised to the total number of enterprises in the retail sector in the period.
The indices are weighed according to their relative share of turnover within the retail sector. A so-called base shift is performed every five years, in order to align the index series to the present day business structure. The reference year is 2015 (2015=100).
Quality of the results
Accuracy
As the results are mainly based on a sample survey, there is a certain margin of error.
Sequential comparability
As the turnover statistics aim to show current and recent developments, Statistics Netherlands corrects for important breaks in series that occur as a consequence of changes in methods and definitions.
Quality strategy
The survey results are only published after the plausibility checks. These checks include:
- time-series analyses (consistency in time);
- indicator analyses (relationship between variables);
- confrontation with results from other sources.