31-03-26 Veenendaal. The Netherlands remains one of Europe’s most mature and digitally engaged consumer markets. In the first half of 2025, Dutch consumers spent over €17 billion online across 168 million transactions – figures that, despite a modest 1% dip compared to the same period in 2024, confirm a market that is structurally robust and highly competitive. For foreign webshops looking to grow their presence in the Netherlands, understanding where that money is going – and who is winning – has never been more important.
These figures come from the Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor HY1 2025, the authoritative benchmark for Dutch online consumer spending, produced by NielsenIQ on behalf of Thuiswinkel.org, Retail Insiders, PostNL and Betaalvereniging Nederland. Full-year 2025 data confirms total online spending of €35.7 billion across 347 million purchases.
The big shift: services down, products up
The headline story of 2025 is a structural rotation away from services and towards physical products. For the first time since 2021, the services sector recorded a decline in both spending (-7% in H1 2025) and number of transactions (-12%). The full-year picture confirms this: the entire services category contracted for the first time since the post-pandemic boom.
Tickets for attractions and events took the hardest hit, with spending down 16% and transaction volume down 15% in the first half of the year. Concerts, festivals and sporting events all showed significant declines – a trend likely amplified by rising ticket prices squeezing demand. Travel categories also softened, with purchases of individual flight tickets and accommodation falling sharply in volume, even where total spending held steadier.
Products, by contrast, grew. Online product spending rose 3% in H1 2025 and 2% for the full year. Transaction volumes followed, with full-year product purchases up 2% – the first increase after several years of decline. The categories driving this growth are worth paying close attention to if you are planning your Netherlands assortment or marketing strategy.
The fastest-growing product categories
Not all categories are growing equally. The data from both the first half and full year of 2025 point to a consistent set of outperformers that foreign sellers should have on their radar.
- Home & Living is the standout category. Spending grew 19% in H1 2025, with the average order value rising 11% to €110 per purchase and transaction volume up 7%. For the full year, growth was 12%. Meubels, vloerbedekking, verlichting and decoratieartikelen all fall within this segment.
- Toys (Speelgoed) showed strong growth across both halves of the year, in both spending and transaction volume. Full-year growth reached 24% – the strongest of any category tracked.
- DIY & Garden grew 11% in full-year purchase volumes, with cross-border purchases in this category also rising sharply.
- Household Electronics (Huishoudelijke Elektronica) grew 10% in spending and 16% in purchases over the full year, driven by small domestic appliances and personal care devices.
- Food & Nearfood added 9% in H1 spending and 4% for the full year, reflecting continued growth in online grocery and near-food purchasing habits.
One category bucking the trend is Media & Entertainment, which recorded a 15% decline in transaction volume across both quarters of H1 2025 – driven largely by falling book and e-book purchases. After four relatively stable periods, this marks a notable reversal.
Cross-border purchasing: the opportunity – and the competition
Cross-border commerce is the most immediately relevant metric for foreign sellers. The good news: Dutch consumers bought more from international webshops than ever before. In the full year 2025, cross-border purchases reached 44.8 million – up 9% on 2024 and significantly higher than the 35.5 million recorded in 2021. Cross-border spending reached €4.5 billion, up 2%.
H1 2025 data shows 21.6 million cross-border purchases (+8%), though total cross-border spending dipped slightly to €2.3 billion (-1%), suggesting consumers are buying more frequently but spending less per transaction. The average cross-border order value fell 8% to €107 in the first half of the year.
The growth in cross-border purchasing is almost entirely product-driven. Cross-border product spending rose 13% in H1 2025, with transaction volumes up 11%. The leading categories for cross-border growth are Clothing, Shoes & Personal Lifestyle, Consumer Electronics and Toys. Home & Living has seen its cross-border share more than double since 2021 – rising from 8% of category purchases in 2021 to 17% in 2025.
China is strengthening its lead
The competitive context for foreign sellers is dominated by one clear trend: Chinese webshops are consolidating their position as the primary destination for Dutch cross-border purchases. In 2025, Chinese platforms accounted for 31% of all cross-border purchases – up from 28% in 2024 and considerably higher than a few years ago. In H1 2025, the figure stood at 30%, up 1 percentage point on 2024.
The United States and United Kingdom are both losing ground. The US share of cross-border purchases fell from 12% to 9% over the full year, while the UK dropped from 7% to 6%. In H1 2025, purchases from American webshops in specific categories fell sharply – individual flight and accommodation bookings down 33%, IT products down 47%.
For European sellers, this creates both a challenge and an argument: Dutch consumers are clearly willing to buy abroad, and they are doing so more frequently. The opportunity is to compete on reliability, speed, local language service and regulatory compliance – areas where European sellers have structural advantages over Asian platforms.
Thuiswinkel.org director Marlene ten Ham put it plainly in the full-year commentary: the strong growth of Chinese webshops makes it increasingly important that consumers understand what they are buying, and that everyone selling into the Dutch market is held to the same European quality and safety standards.
How Dutch consumers pay – and what is changing
Payment preferences in the Netherlands are distinctive and matter significantly for conversion. iDEAL remains the dominant method, used for 70% of all online purchases in H1 2025 – though its share has fallen from 73% in H1 2024 and from 72% to 71% in the full year. The erosion is gradual but consistent.
Klarna is gaining ground, rising to 4% of purchases in the full year, and particularly strong in Clothing (where its share grew from 23% to 27%) and Shoes & Personal Lifestyle (from 13% to 20%). Betaalverzoek – a Dutch bank-to-bank payment request method – also picked up a percentage point at total market level. Creditcard holds steady at 8%.
For cross-border purchases, the picture is different. iDEAL holds a 54% share in cross-border transactions, but creditcard fell from 21% to 18%. Klarna and PayPal each reached 10% in the cross-border segment, with PayPal particularly strong in Media & Entertainment and Food/Nearfood. For foreign sellers without iDEAL integration, offering both Klarna and PayPal is the minimum viable payment stack to serve Dutch consumers effectively.
Looking ahead, 2026 will bring structural change to the Dutch payments landscape. iDEAL is transitioning to the pan-European Wero payment scheme, buy-now-pay-later is facing tighter regulation, and a new generation of payment cards is being rolled out that enables card payments for consumers who previously relied exclusively on iDEAL. Foreign sellers should monitor these developments closely, as they may shift conversion dynamics across categories.
Mobile commerce is accelerating
Smartphones now account for 41% of all online purchases in the Netherlands – up 5 percentage points in a single year. Desktop and laptop dropped from 49% to 45% of purchases over the full year. In H1 2025, smartphone purchase share rose 3 percentage points, while desktop fell from 49% to 46%.
Cross-border purchasing on mobile is growing more slowly – rising from 34% to 36% – suggesting Dutch consumers are still somewhat more comfortable completing international purchases on a larger screen. Nevertheless, the direction is clear, and webshops without a fast, properly localised mobile experience are leaving conversion on the table.
What this means for your Netherlands strategy
The 2025 data paints a coherent picture for foreign sellers. Dutch consumers are buying products online more than ever, they are comfortable shopping internationally, and they are doing so increasingly on mobile. The categories with the strongest momentum – Home & Living, Toys, DIY & Garden, Household Electronics – reward sellers who can offer competitive pricing, credible product information and fast delivery.
The market is not without pressure. Chinese platforms are aggressive and growing. But Dutch consumers also value reliability, compliance with European product standards, and the assurance of trusted payment methods and clear returns policies. These are areas where a well-prepared European seller can differentiate.
The 12.8 million active online buyers in the Netherlands – 6.6 million of whom already shop cross-border – represent a sophisticated, digitally confident audience. Reaching them effectively means getting the basics right: Dutch-language content, iDEAL or Klarna integration, mobile-optimised checkout, and positioning that speaks to quality and trust rather than price alone.
Disclaimer: Press releases published on this site are submitted by third parties and do not reflect the editorial position or responsibility of BlossomYourContent.eu.
