E-commerce monitor 2017: rise in smartphone 72% and iDEAL continues to lead the way

Number of shopping trips with smartphone continues to rise; +72% in 2017

The number of online purchases made with a smartphone increased by 72% in 2017 compared to a year earlier, to 25.7 million. With this, the smartphone has a share of 13% of the 202 million online purchases made in 2017 (in 2016 this was still 9%). When making online purchases, iDEAL remains the most commonly used payment method, while the Klarna and AfterPay payment methods show a significant increase compared to 2016. This is evident from figures from the eCommerce Payment Monitor, the research into payment methods in the Netherlands that is carried out by GfK, in collaboration with iDEAL and Thuiswinkel.org.

Based on the number of purchases, the total online market in 2017 will grow by 17% compared to 2016. Where 173 million online purchases were made in 2016, this increased to 202 million in 2017. With 56%, iDEAL remains the most popular payment method of all online purchases, followed by the credit card (11%). 

Klarna and AfterPay show strong growth in the number of purchases

If we look at the number of online purchases per payment method in 2017, iDEAL shows a growth that is in line with the development of the total online market (+16%). This means that the share of iDEAL remains virtually the same as in 2016 (56% versus 57%). Although the number of online purchases via debit card (+41%) and PayPal (+28%) is growing considerably faster than the total online market, the relatively new payment methods (and post-payment methods) Klarna and AfterPay show relatively the largest growth this year. The number of purchases settled with Klarna increased by 93% compared to 2016 and the number of purchases settled with AfterPay increased by 65%. The share of the more traditional post-payment method Acceptgiro (2.8%) is lower for the first time in 2017 than the share of Klarna and AfterPay combined (4.4%).

In total, four in ten online buyers have used postpay when purchasing products in the fourth quarter of 2017. In addition, 7% of online buyers (almost) always uses the option to pay afterwards when making product purchases . Within the 39% of online shoppers who sometimes pay afterwards, postpay is especially popular for the Apparel (46%) product segments, followed by Media & Entertainment (25%), Shoes & Lifestyle (17%), Toys (16%) and Food/Nearfood/Health (13%).

Number of smartphone purchases shows an increase of +72%

Where in 2016 9% of all online purchases was made with a smartphone, in 2017 13% was made with a smartphone. This share is at the expense of the desktop and laptop. The smartphone share is highest in the product segments Shoes & Lifestyle (16%), Media & Entertainment (16%) and Food/Nearfood (15%). Most purchases on the smartphone are settled with iDEAL. This share increased again from 47% in 2016 to 52% in 2017.

The number of online purchases via smartphone grew by 72% last year compared to 2016. This resulted in 25.7 million purchases made via smartphone in 2017. The penetration of the smartphone when making online purchases also continues to increase. In 2016, 28% of online buyers had used a smartphone in at least one of their online purchases and in 2017 this increased to 34%. We see that the penetration of the smartphone among young people is considerably higher than among the elderly; among young people, 52% of online buyers has used a smartphone for at least one of their purchases, while this is 16% among older people (50 years and older). In 2016 this was still 45% for young people and 13% for older people.

If we look at the growth in the number of purchases, we see that the number of purchases via smartphone has increased the fastest within the segments Food/Nearfood (+149%), Package Travel (+136%) and Shoes & Personal Lifestyle (+116%).

Currence iDEAL expects that the smartphone will also be used more often in 2018 for payments for purchases on other devices. Following Knab and Rabobank, the larger Dutch banks (including banken Triodos) will release their mobile apps this year with the ability to scan iDEAL QR codes. Director Piet Mallekoote of Currence iDEAL: “Mobile payment with iDEAL has already taken off. With the expansion of iDEAL QR, physical and online purchases can be seamlessly connected. This also bridges the gap between desktop/laptop and mobile.”

The year of the PSD2

“The past year has shown that the world of payments does not stand still,” said Just Hasselaar, policy advisor digital transactions at Thuiswinkel.org. “2017 is the last full year in which we still lived in the old payment world; 2018 is the year of PSD2. Despite the fact that we are lagging behind in the Netherlands with the introduction of this new law, it will be exciting to see what will change. In any case, new players and payment methods are coming.”