Ecommerce Europe, the association of European online retailers, reports the Western European b2c online commerce economy to have reached €160.8 billion in 2012, marking a 16% growth from 2011.The Dutch ecommerce market value was assessed at €4.6 billion, marking less than 9% growth from 2011. As such, the Dutch online retail economy was considered to be the slowest one in Western Europe last year.

In Q1 2013, the Netherlands has demonstrated an 8% increase in online sales, with the turnover growing to $5 billion (Source: eCommerce News). The number of individual orders placed across different online commerce outlets has increased by 10% and totaled 46 million (Source: eCommerce Facts). On the other hand, in its Ecommerce Readiness Report 2013 market analyst company Forrester has ranked the Netherlands #7 in its List of Top 10 Countries with the potential to become world’s strongest ecommerce economies. To determine ecommerce growth potential, Forrester analyzed such factors as the number of debit / credit cards per capita, retail market intensity and activity, population’s digital literacy and tech savviness, and others (Source: Brainsins).