Online sales in the Netherlands grew 86% in the first quarter, but total retail sales still fell

The Netherlands achieved record growth in internet sales in the first quarter , up nearly 86% year-on-year, Statistics Netherlands has reported based on new quarterly retail data .

In contrast, total retail sales fell by nearly 1% , with food industry turnover increasing rapidly but non-food industry turnover falling sharply.

The rapid growth in online sales is mainly due to multi-channel players that sell both in store and online. These companies’ online turnover more than doubled from a year ago , while turnover for pure online stores increased by more than 59%.

The growth in total internet sales this quarter has also been very impressive compared to other quarters since the start of the crisis . In the first quarter of this year , more than 30% more online stores were established than a year ago . Compared to the beginning of 2019, the number of new online stores has more than doubled.

The decline in total retail sales in the first quarter of 2021 was the first decline since 2013. Not surprisingly, the decline in retail sales in the first quarter was partly due to the non-food sector. Due to closures or only pickup in stores, sales there fell by more than 22% compared to the same period last year .

Another reason is that the Dutch have seen a slight change in their spending habits: since the lockdown was eased , people have been frequenting garden centres , hardware stores and home improvement shops.

Payments company Klarna, a partner to 16,000 online shops, studied the impact of store reopenings, surveying 9,000 consumers in nine core markets including the Netherlands and finding that many consumers are staying put in the online sphere.

Despite the reopening of stores, the share of "Clothes and Shoes" remained largely unchanged from previous weeks. The "Entertainment" and "Electronics" categories accounted for a relatively larger share of goods purchased through Klarna compared to before the lockdown.

While Mother’s Day played a role here, jewelry and accessories, as well as health and beauty, actually saw an increase in share in online stores.

Netherlands

Online

retail