Dutch make 20% of purchases online

A study released Tuesday by Dutch web shop association Thuiswinkel.org has revealed the strong growth of internet purchasers in the Netherlands. Online sales now make up 18 percent of spending in the Netherlands, representing a figure of more than €6.5 billion spent by consumers in the first half of 2014, and an increase of nearly six percent compared with the same period last year. Figures released show that a whopping 85 percent of the Dutch population aged 15 years and over purchased at least one item online. Purchases of physical products such as clothing, telephones and toys represented the most growth, up 17 percent in the last six months, which services including tickets for events, flights and insurance were up jsut three percent. "The most striking figure is the strong growth in online spending of products (17%), especially when we rebel against indicators that show a contraction of purchasing products in stores of about 4%,” says Thuiswinkel.org director Wijnand Jongen. Thuiswinkel.org expects that 110 million online purchases will be carried out in 2014.