Retail and e-commerce - March 2022

Developments in retail
The KVK Business Trend Report (in Dutch, 642 kB) shows that in February 2022, 1868 entrepreneurs started a webshop in the Netherlands; a year earlier the amount was 3203: a decrease of 42%. The number of webshops that went bankrupt in February 2022 is low: 137.
The latest figures from Thuiswinkel.org (in Dutch) show that the online spending of Dutch consumers will reach €30.6 billion in 2021, representing an increase of 16% compared to 2020. There were 373 million online purchases, a growth of 13% compared to 2020. The share of online purchasing thus accounts for 31% of total spending.
According to the CBS, the number of online stores in the Netherlands has increased by over 63% to nearly 80 thousand since January 2020. More than 80% of web stores in 2022 are companies with 1 employed person.

E-commerce delivery
A paper (1.6 MB) by the University of Nottingham Ningbo China entitled ‘Toward sustainable express deliveries for online shopping: Reusing packaging materials through reverse logistics’ is published in the journal Thunderbird International Business Review.
VIL (in Dutch) has published results from the Rural Parcel Delivery project showing that cooperation for last mile deliveries in rural areas pays off. On average, CO₂ emissions and number of transport movements decrease by 60% and costs by 35%.
Capterra (in Dutch) has published an article on the need for fast delivery in e-commerce and on whether the convenience outweighs the extra cost. Of the Dutch online shoppers surveyed, 78% said that delivery time always (6%), often (27%) or sometimes (45%) influences their choice of store.

E-commerce and return streams
Euromonitor has published a white paper about emerging global concepts in retail. Within retail delivery and logistics have become competitive advantages. The motivation of the consumer for shopping online is to save time and money. But this convenience comes with operational and environmental costs, leading consumers to rethink purchase decisions and retailers to adjust their priorities. You can download the report after filling in your details.
Sendcloud has published a report about transforming returns in e-commerce. Some online shoppers feel responsible for arranging and paying for returns on their own rather than relying on e-retailers. You can download the report after filling in your details.
Research by Multiscope (in Dutch) shows that more than half of the consumers order less blindly when they have to pay the return costs themselves. Sometimes, the return percentage is as high as 50% when returns are free of charge.

Reusable packaging
A paper (1.49 MB) by Honam University, entitled ‘The impact of reusable tableware packaging combined with environmental propaganda on consumer behaviour in online retail’, is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
The Refill Coalition has brought together leading UK retailers to pioneer scalable refill solutions, including a bulk home delivery model. If successful, the solution could play a key role in reducing the 56.5 billion units of single-use plastic packaging sold annually in the UK.
 

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