For the first time in years, online spending in the Netherlands declined as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. According to the Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor the number of online purchases did rise, by 8% to €69 million. However, turnover fell by 4% to €6 billion during the first quarter.
The decline in online consumer spending is mainly caused by the free fall in spending on services. Especially, the travel industry was struggling. For example, online spending on Package Travel declined by 50% from the same period last year and Loose Air Tickets and Accommodation decreased by 28%.
Spendings on products show a growth of 19%. However, this has not been able to compensate for the decline in services, resulting in a negative growth result on the first quarter of 2020.
There were 30% fewer online purchases of services than in the first quarter of 2019 in the Netherlands, while the different product categories grew by an average of 17 percent. However, there is a positive growth result here, as services represent only 10% of the online market in purchases.
With the exception of the Fashion industry, there is an increase in online publications within all product categories. The largest growth is attributed to IT (+38%), Sports and Recreation (+34%), Home & Living (+30%) and Food (+23%).
The Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor also reports that iDEAL continues to be popular in the Netherlands. The share of this payment method in online spending rose from 59% to 68%.
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