Table of Contents
E-commerce in the Netherlands
Internet usage in the Netherlands is extremely high. 90% of the population uses the internet and mobile net, which means that strong growth in m-commerce can be expected. The Dutch are very open-minded when purchasing from international and cross-border websites, which means that international e-commerce businesses should be very interested in this market. In 2017, the Dutch spent 1,578$ US per capita online and 11,989 per capita at point of sale locations. The Dutch e-commerce market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 14% until 2022.
iDEAL’s market power
The most popular method of payment in the Netherlands, iDEAL, is local. It is used for more than 77% of all mobile transactions. The iDEAL payment method redirects consumers from online shops to their own bank’s website, authorizes their transaction data after the consumer enters their account number and their two-factor authentication. After bank transfers, credit cards are a popular method of payment with 14% of all online transactions. The most popular credit cards are Visa, MasterCard and American Express, with MasterCard holding 95% of the card market and Visa, 4%.
Alternative payment methods
The direct online payment method Sofort is one of the popular alternative payment methods in the Netherlands.
Mobile wallets were used to pay for 10% of e-commerce transactions and 3% of POS transactions in 2017. The most widely used e-wallet is PayPal. Smaller, but not to be underestimated are the payment systems Trustly, Capayable and Billpay.
Mobile contactless payments are slowly growing. It is interesting to note that contactless payment, introduced in 2014 in the Netherlands, have gain popularity quite rapidly. More than a third of all retailers have NFC-enables POS terminals. Furthermore, more than half of all debit cards were contactless, a trend slowly followed by credit cards and prepaid cards issuers. Netherlands' three largest banks, ING, Rabobank and ABN AMRO, all offer mobile wallets. However, the lack of adaptability of consumers remain the biggest challenge faced by the new payment method.
TOP 5 PAYMENT METHODS
- Bank transfer 59% Desktop
- Credit card 14% Desktop
- E-wallet 10% Desktop
- Pay on delivery 6% Desktop
- Debit card 3% Desktop
E-COMMERCE SALES IN 2017
Population: 17 Mil.
Internet usage: 90%
Sources:
About-payments.com
Euromonitor international – Financial cards and payment in the Netherlands 2018
The Paypers
Worldpay - Global payments report, Nov 2018
