Dutch consumers spend € 15.7 billion online in the first nine months of 2017

Online spending increases by 14% compared to a year ago

In the third quarter of 2017, Dutch consumers spent € 5.0 billion online on products and services. This brings online spending in the first nine months to € 15.7 billion, an increase of 14% compared to the same period in 2016. This is according to figures from the Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor, the study of online consumer spending in the Netherlands. This research is conducted by GfK, commissioned by Thuiswinkel.org and in collaboration with PostNL.

In the third quarter of 2017, 49.7 million online purchases were made: 39.0 million product purchases (+ 22% compared to Q3 2016) and 10.7 million online purchases of services (+ 18%). With a growth of 22% compared to Q3 2016, product purchases, such as clothing, toys and electronics, are increasing faster than purchases of services such as package holidays and event tickets (+ 18%). In terms of spending, 62% (€ 3.1 billion) goes to the online purchase of products and 38% (€ 1.9 billion) goes to the purchase of services. Compared to the third quarter of 2016, online spending on products increased by 17%, while spending on services showed a growth of 10%.

In the first three quarters of this year a total of € 15.7 billion was spent via the Internet. With the holidays ahead, spending in Q4 is estimated at € 7.0 billion, bringing the total online revenue in 2017 to € 22.7 billion. This would mean an increase of 14% compared to 2016. The total number of online purchases for 2017 is expected to be 201 million (+ 17% compared to 2016).

Wijnand Jongen, director of Thuiswinkel.org: “In the first three quarters of 2017 we see that online growth is continuing strongly. This is due to the good results from both pure players and physical stores that also sell products and / or services online. For all of 2017 we are heading for an online record turnover of more than € 22 billion. On the product side of Q4 in particular, I expect a substantial increase of 15-20%, mainly because consumers will then do their Sinterklaas and Christmas purchases again. In this regard, oversold (online) retail holidays such as Singles Day and the Black Friday weekend are playing an increasingly important role. ”

Growth in online spending is greatest for Health & Beauty, Food / Nearfood and Home & Garden

In the third quarter, Dutch consumers mainly started spending more online on products. Online spending on Health & Beauty (+ 57%), Food / Nearfood (+ 47%) and Home & Garden (+ 47%) increased explosively. The top 5 in terms of growth in spending is completed by the Shoes & Lifestyle (+ 36%) and Clothing (+ 29%) segments.

Telecom is the only product segment in Q3 2017 that shows a decrease in spending compared to the third quarter of 2016. Menno van den Elzen, Business Consultant Retail & Lifestyle at GfK: “The fall in Telecom in the third quarter has everything to do with it with the BKR registration that has been applicable since 1 May this year to the purchase of a telephone subscription including a device with a value of € 250 or more. To prevent BKR registration, consumers are now opting for a subscription without a device more quickly, which means that spending on telephony is decreasing. ”

For more information about the Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor and ordering the report you can contact Gino Thuij, GfK (Gino.Thuij@gfk.com).