Though Dutch consumers are still placing more cross-border orders within the EU, in Q2 2021 there was a growth of 17 percent when compared to last year. In total, they spent more than 800 million euros in online stores within the EU. This is a slower growth than in previous quarters.
Every quarter, consumers in the Netherlands are spending more at European stores when compared to the same quarter in the previous year. This growth has been continuous ever since 2014, and accelerated strongly after the outbreak of the pandemic. Quarterly growth peaked at more than 38 percent in 2020 and a record growth of almost 64 percent was achieved in the first three months of 2021.
Quarterly growth peaked at more than 38% in 2020.
Statistics Netherlands published a report about the online orders placed by Dutch consumers with stores outside of the Netherlands, within the EU. According to that report, the growth that was seen in Q2 in 2021 is comparable to the quarterly growth in the pre-pandemic years.
Growth Dutch online stores also slowing down
The growth of Dutch online turnover is also slowing down. Within the first quarter of 2021, Dutch online stores recorded a turnover growth of almost 85 percent. In the second quarter, this growth was down to 16 percent when compared to the previous year. This means that Dutch consumers have found their way back to brick-and-mortar stores, now that lockdown regulations are lifted.
Dutch consumers have found their way back to brick-and-mortar stores
However, Dutch multichannel sellers are still recording higher turnovers than pure online stores. In Q2 this year, pure online players reached a turnover growth of about 15 percent, while the online turnover made by multichannel sellers was 18 percent higher than the year before.
Turnover share of European online stores is limited
While Dutch consumers are ordering cross-border more often, the share is still small when compared to overall consumer spending. In 2019, all online purchases made up no more than 2 percent of Dutch total retail sales.
Source: https://ecommercenews.eu/growth-of-dutch-cross-border-purchases-slows-down/
