Strong increase in online purchases of food

Dutch consumers spent €12.5 billion on products and services online in the first six months of 2019, representing an increase of 9% compared to the first six months of 2018. This is shown by figures from the Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor, the study on online consumer spending in the Netherlands. This research is carried out by GfK, commissioned by Thuiswinkel.org and in collaboration with PostNL.

Food/Nearfood biggest increase

In total, 124.9 million online purchases were made in the first six months of 2019 (+6%). Within this we see that the growth for services (+1%) lags behind that for products (+8%), which is in line with previous years. The growth within products is mainly caused by a sharp increase in the number of online purchases within Food/Nearfood (+39%).

"Food/Nearfood will be an enormous driver of the Dutch e-commerce market," says Wijnand Jongen, director of Thuiswinkel.org. "Whereas this category first attracted a great deal of attention because of its high growth rates, it has now also grown into one of the largest product categories, both in terms of online spending and the number of purchases. The growth figures remain impressive and that will not be much different in the coming period, with the holidays coming up."

Forecast for the whole of 2019

It is expected that online spending in the Netherlands for the whole of 2019 will amount to approximately € 25.9 billion, divided over approximately 259.7 million purchases. 

Click here for the Infographic Home-shopping Market Monitor HY1 2019