In 2024, Dutch consumers were more keen than ever on a good deal: half of consumers (52%) always bought products for the lowest possible price last year. This is according to financial services provider Mollie's annual E-commerce report, for which 2,000 Dutch consumers were surveyed. Looking at 2023, this was 'only' true for more than one in three Dutch consumers (37%).
In 2023, 31% of consumers researched a product before purchase, compared to 47% last year. Photo Roman Samborskyi | Dreamstime.com
Dutch consumers were therefore more likely to choose discounted products last year. Whereas in 2023, 29 per cent preferred buying items at a discount, in 2024 this was the case for a whopping 37 per cent. When choosing an online retailer, the lowest price also appears to be the most important factor (48 per cent in 2024 vs 38 per cent in 2023). In addition, consumers pay attention to whether items are shipped for free (40%) and whether they trust the seller (37%). Free returns have become a lot less important for Dutch consumers in the past year (43% in 2023 vs 27% in 2024).
Product research
Not only did consumers dwell on price more often, they also do more research on products they want to buy. In 2023, one in three consumers (31%) researched a product before buying, compared to half (47%) last year. In particular, YouTube (47%), Instagram (41%) and Facebook (39%) were used for this purpose.
Stefanie Richheimer, VP Benelux at Mollie: "Price has always been an important criterion for the Dutch buyer, but now seems more crucial than ever. This does not mean that retailers should massively lower their prices, that would not be sustainable. But it is important that retailers are transparent about the costs for consumers. Not only about those of the product, but also about any shipping costs, return costs or other additional costs. That way, consumers always know where they stand, and that in turn builds trust in the retailer."
A total of 10,000 respondents were surveyed for the E-commerce report. The survey was conducted in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the UK and France. For each country, 2,000 consumers were surveyed.
More information:
Mollie
www.mollie.com