Some 70 percent of Dutch now shopping online

The number of online shoppers in the Netherlands doubled over the past decade, with 71 percent of Dutch now doing at least some of their shopping online, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. Last year there were more than 32 thousand online stores in the Netherlands. Most Dutch shoppers chose to buy from these stores, instead of a foreign one. Though a third did sometimes buy items from across national borders. Consumers increasingly opt to buy consumer electronics online, according to the statistics office. In the first quarter of this year, online sales of consumer electronics increased by 34 percent, while the sales in physical stores dropped 11 percent. Only four other European countries have more active online shoppers than the Netherlands. The United Kingdom stands in first place. Denmark, Luxembourg and Germany take places two to four.