Dutch online sales rose 6.2% in August. Pure web shops grew faster than store chains

Dutch online sales were 6.2% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) said on 1 October. Total retail turnover rose 3.5%. The figures are adjusted for the number of shopping days in each month.

Web-only shops grew 7.0%, store chains selling online 4.8%

CBS splits online sales into two groups. Shops that sell only on the web took 7.0% more. Retailers with physical stores that also sell online grew their web sales by 4.8%. Online sales of food and drugstore products rose fastest, by 9.6%.

The Dutch online market keeps attracting new players. YouTube Shopping has opened there with Bol as its launch partner. Elsewhere in Europe the picture is mixed: in France, Rakuten shut its marketplace after 26 years.

Furniture shops led August with 7.1% growth

Non-food retailers grew 5.0%, while food shops grew 0.9%. Supermarkets took 1.0% more and specialist food shops 0.4% more. Among non-food shops, furniture and home stores did best at 7.1%, followed by shops for leisure goods at 5.9%. Shoe and leather goods shops were the only group to shrink, by 1.1%.

Prices added less than a point to the 3.5% rise

The volume of goods sold rose 2.7%, CBS said. That means most of the turnover growth came from people buying more, not from higher prices. In July turnover had grown 2.5%, so August was a step up.

For online sellers planning the autumn, the gap is the number to watch: web shops grew roughly twice as fast as Dutch retail overall, 6.2% against 3.5%.