Consumers spend more than 30 billion euro online in 2021

The online spending of Dutch consumers reaches €30.6 billion in 2021, which represents an increase of 16% compared to 2020. There are 373 million online purchases, a growth of 13% compared to 2020.

The share of online purchases is thus 31% of total spending. This is apparent from the latest figures from Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor, the survey about online consumer spending in the Netherlands. This research is conducted by GfK, commissioned by Thuiswinkel.org and Retail Insiders and in cooperation with PostNL, Betaalvereniging Nederland and Currence.

COVID19 effect or enduring trend?

The growth of online spending in 2019 (before the outbreak of COVID-19) and 2020 was 3% and 6% respectively, but in 2021 this increased to 16%. Growth of online purchases was 7% in 2019, peaked at 26% in 2020 and was still high at 13% in 2021. So both corona years show higher growth of online purchases, but only in 2021 also higher growth of online spending. “Online growth was again fueled by the COVID19 restrictions, such as the closure of non-essential shops in Q1 and late Q4. As a result, consumers have again made more online purchases this year, whereby it is striking that the total amount spent online by a consumer has also increased: from € 1900 to € 2180, an increase of 15%. Consumers are therefore getting used to spending more and more money online. We expect that consumers will continue to buy online this year, but the growth will be the same as before the COVID19 pandemic”, says Marlene ten Ham, director Thuiswinkel.org.

Growth of products and services take turns

In 2021 online purchases of products will have increased by 13%. In the first quarter, consumers still bought a lot of products online (+43%), in the second and third quarter the product sector recorded a modest growth of 5% and 8%, and in the fourth quarter there was even a contraction of 1%. For services, the picture is the opposite. While the first quarter was still in the red (-52% in online purchases), the second quarter saw a rebound in services as a result of relaxed travel restrictions. In the fourth quarter, services even recorded a combined increase of 63% in online purchases. “The explosive growth rates seen in the products sector last year and in the first quarter of this year are being seen in the services sector from the third quarter onwards. During the lockdowns we see increases in product purchases, during the easing we see increases in service purchases”, Ten Ham said.

This does not mean that the services industry is already back on its feet. Ten Ham explains: “In absolute numbers, the services industry is still below the pandemic level. This year, online spending on services was €7.8 billion versus €10.8 billion in 2019. But the sector has been on the rise again since the fourth quarter. Our expectation is that this growth will continue in 2022 and online spending on services will grow beyond the level of 2019.”

Online share of total spending to 31%

The shift from offline to online will continue in 2021. The share of online in total purchases increased further to 13% (2020: 11%, 2019: 8%). The online share of total spending has also increased year-on-year; from 27% to 31%. This increase is mainly due to the growing online spending on products.
The importance of the smartphone is increasing again this year. Almost a third of all purchases (29%) were made with a smartphone. In 2020, this was still 25%. By far the most purchases are paid with iDEAL. The share of iDEAL as a payment method for online purchases has risen slightly again this year (from 69% in 2020 to 70% in 2021). The strongest growth is for Apple Pay with 73% (from 0.2% share in 2020 to 0.4% in 2021).

Strong demand for holidays and getaways

Except for DIY/Garden, Insurance and Sports & Recreation, all branches show growth in both online purchases and online spending. The strongest increase in online spending is attributed to Package Travel (+42%), Individual Flight Tickets and Accommodations (+33%), Tickets for Attractions and Events (+32%). “The decline in the categories DIY/Garden and Sports & Recreation is explained by their strong increase in 2020. During the first lockdown, consumers massively bought products to fix up their homes and do sports at home, so there will be less demand for these products in 2021. Since the easing of the situation in the second quarter, consumers have a strong desire to go out, which is why leisure spending in the form of travel and tickets is rising sharply this year,” says Ten Ham.

The popularity of online shopping has also increased. This is reflected not only in a 28% growth in online spending, but also the online share of spending is up from 6% to 8%. There are more households buying online (2.4 million in Q4) and more online purchases per buying household (6.5 purchases in Q4)

9 out of 10 purchases through domestic websites

90% of online purchases are made via domestic websites. We see a growth in online cross-border spending (+14%), but a decrease in the number of purchases (-5%). This mainly applies to products and not to services, where the cross-border share in online purchases is actually rising slightly (from 8.5% to 9.0%). China and the UK are the main countries with a decrease in the share of cross-border purchases.

Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor 2021