Foreign web shops are marching on in the Netherlands

An increasing number of Dutch consumers is ordering online at foreign web shops: nearly 25 % of them ordered something at a foreign web shop in 2015, which represents a 513 million euro turnover.

China is most popular market

23% of all Dutch consumer aged 15 or older purchased something on a foreign web shop, according to Thuiswinkel.org’s Thuiswinkel Market Monitor study. That is basically 3.2 million purchases and a 513 million euro turnover, up 31 % compared to 2014. Foreign online purchases even outpace the growth in the overall number of online orders, which stood at + 16 % in 2015.

Foreign purchases now represent a 3 % stake in all purchases: 23 % are made on Chinese websites, but Germany (16 %), Great Britain (15 %) and the United States (12 %) are also popular. Pricing and the vast product range are reasons for Dutch consumers to look at Chinese sites, while American and European web shops perform better when it comes to product quality or presentation.