The B2C E-commerce Index: the Netherlands on top

The annual B2C E-commerce Index of UN conference UNCTAD positioned the Netherlands on top of the index, replacing Luxembourg. 

The B2C E-commerce Index measures the willingness of an economy to support online shopping. This year, 151 different countries were compared on four factors influencing online trade, including the reliability of delivery and the number of secured servers per one million inhabitants.

Europe dominates the index
In last year;s index, Luxembourg came out on top. However, a significant decrease in the trustworthiness of delivery services has led to a considerable loss. Luxembourg now ranks 19th. The top ten in this index consists of eight European countries! High growth in the top 10 of this index could be seen in Singapore and Ireland, now respectively 2nd and 7th.

40,000 pure players in the Netherlands
The Netherlands scores particularly high on the number of secured internet servers per one million inhabitants. There is no other country in the world that scores so well in this area. According to UNCTAD, the Netherlands also counted more than 40,000 pure players (retailers that only sell online) in 2016, the highest number of the entire European Union. Only Denmark has a higher share of online shoppers: 76% of the population aged 15 and up shops online.

Alibaba helps Singapore
The top three is completed by Singapore and Switzerland. The performance of Singapore is particularly noteworthy because the country is ranked sixteen places higher this year compared to the previous edition. This can partly be explained by the fact that e-commerce giant Alibaba has invested in Singapore Post. This resulted in a big improvement in the reliability of mail delivery in this country.

Check the full B2C E-commerce Index here.