How Dutch consumers shop online

 

The Netherlands is one of the most developed economies in Europe. With a GDP of $1.413 trillion in 2025, the Netherlands is currently ranked as the 18th wealthiest country in the world. No wonder that Dutch e-Commerce is a force to be reckoned with.

 

 

The digital landscape of the Netherlands

The Netherlands has around 18 million inhabitants, and almost all of them have internet access, bringing the country’s digital penetration to above 99%. Cell phone penetration stands even better at 138%, likely due to the fact that some individuals have more than one cell phone. 14.8 million people use social media in the country, covering 80.9% of the population.

 

With a solid basis like that, e-Commerce flourishes in the Netherlands. The market currently generates an annual revenue of $23,815 million, and analysts expect a 5-10% growth in the next year.

 

 

Panoramic view of Amsterdam's historic city center

 

 

Online shopping behavior of Dutch consumers

Close to 87% of Dutch consumers shop online, crowning the Netherlands as the country with the highest amount of online shoppers in Europe, followed by Ireland (85.9%) and Denmark (81.8%). In comparison, the EU average is currently 60.2%.

 

Interestingly, the Netherlands has only recently claimed this crown with a 2.5% surge in online shoppers at the end of 2024. A 2025 study indicates that this surge was due to an increasing number of senior consumers taking to e-Commerce. In 2023, only 64% of the 65-75 age bracket was active in online shopping, whereas a year later, this figure grew to 73%.

 

In 2025, Dutch consumers spent 35.7 billion euros online. While this is a 1% decrease from the previous year, the amount of cross-border transactions actually grew in 2025 by 9%.

 

The most popular product categories are home and living (12% increase in purchases from the previous year), home electronics (10% increase), food and nearfood (4% increase), as well as DIY & gardening (11% growth) and toys (a whopping 24% increase over 2024).

 

Find out all about the challenges of the European DIY market!

 

Around 41% of all e-Commerce transactions were initiated from smartphones, which represents a 5% growth from 2024. For cross-border purchases, this figure stands slightly lower at 36%, following a 2% growth from the previous year.

 

As for payments, 70% of Dutch consumers prefer iDEAL, a Netherlands-specific secure payment method that is currently being rebranded as Wero, a new European digital payment solution introduced in early 2026.

 

For cross-border purchases, 54% of Dutch consumers use iDEAL, while 18% reach for credit cards and 10% rely on Klarna and PayPal, respectively.

 

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Marketing strategies for the Dutch market

A 2024 study sheds some light on the general preferences of Dutch consumers, which can be very helpful for businesses planning a market entry to the Netherlands.

 

Although the Netherlands is a wealthy country, Dutch consumers don’t turn their noses up at a bargain price. In fact, 37% of consumers always buy the items with the lowest price, 29% purchase discounted products when possible, and 28% delay their purchase until the chosen product is on sale.

 

45% of Dutch online shoppers start their journey with a Google search. After that, 40% of them check out the brand’s or the primary retailer’s webshop, while 30% visit a well-known marketplace like Amazon or eBay. 27% of them also take a look at a comparison website to find better deals or reviews. On that note, 36% of Dutch consumers check out reviews before making a purchase.

 

Interestingly, 20% of shoppers visit a physical store to take a look at the product they found online, then proceed to purchase it from an online source. This highlights the need for a seamless shopping experience across all sales channels in the Netherlands.

 

Discover the pros and cons of hybrid commerce!

 

With 64.2 million monthly visitors, domestic bol.com is the most popular online marketplace in the Netherlands. Another Dutch platform, marktplaats.nl, comes in second with 46.89 million visitors, while Amazon’s local marketplace, amazon.nl, takes the third spot with 35.27 million.

 

 

Screenshot of the homepage of bol.com

 

 

As inhabitants of a wealthy Western country with a highly developed economy, Dutch consumers are used to a certain level of quality. This means that to become successful in the Netherlands, businesses entering the market need to provide the same, or even better quality, services and products.

 

Offering fast and convenient delivery options, secure payment methods, and clear returns processes can go a long way when introducing your brand to Dutch consumers.

 

Although most of them speak English, Dutch online shoppers expect to see web content in their native language. This includes product listings, social media posts, product information material, and even customer service.

 

Sustainability and eco-consciousness are both very important for Dutch citizens. Consequently, consumers value businesses that make a real effort to operate sustainably. However, you need to make sure that you’re transparent and honest about the actual impact of your efforts, because greenwashing can seriously harm your brand.

 

 

How to protect your brand in Dutch e-Commerce

While the Netherlands is not considered a very risky market for counterfeits, your IP rights can still be infringed on in the country. The presence of global marketplaces, third-party sellers, and the interconnected nature of e-Commerce ensures that no country is completely risk-free when it comes to IP infringements.

 

This means that you have to take active steps to protect your IP rights in the Netherlands as well. The first one of these steps is registering your rights with the relevant Dutch and/or EU authorities. Being officially recognized as the rights holder for patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc., forms the basis of your protection.

 

But registering only provides you with passive protection. To ensure that nobody infringes on your rights, you have to actively monitor for potential breaches. Luckily, you don’t have to do this alone. globaleyez’s online monitoring services provide you with comprehensive, all-round monitoring to catch any and every case of potential infringement.

 

Our marketplace monitoring service, for instance, detects infringing product listings on over 150 marketplaces worldwide, the Netherlands included. Our domain monitoring does the same with domains (e.g., single webshops), while image monitoring checks for stolen pictures. We also provide social media monitoring to detect any infringing content (like posts, product listings, images) on major social media platforms.

 

Once we have narrowed down the infringing content, we can enforce your rights and ensure its removal from the internet.

 

 

Conclusion

Businesses entering the Netherlands can expect a vibrant country with a robust economy and a thriving e-Commerce sector. However, don’t forget to take care of the protection of your invaluable IP rights!

 

Contact us and let’s set up a comprehensive online brand protection strategy for your business in the Netherlands, and anywhere else in the world!