The Netherlands: One in every 10 retail purchases in the Netherlands is now made online

Web shops continue to grow in popularity, ringing up a record €22.5bn in sales in 2017, sector organisation Thuiswinkel reported on Friday morning. One in every 10 retail purchases is now made online,

Thuiswinkel said. Buyers in the Netherlands totted up more than 201 million online purchases last year and the total bill was up 13% on 2016. Holiday sales, centred around Black Friday and Single’s Day, contributed heavily to the total sales.

In 2017, 95% of Dutch consumers aged 15 and older made an online purchase of goods or services, the report revealed. ‘Web shops get a lot of attention during sales and holiday campaigns. That’s how we capture the first buyers for Sinterklaas.

 On the downside, sales in these periods are at lower prices which pressure profit margins,’

Thuiswinkel.org’s Wijnand Jongen said. Jongen expects web shops will create more shop holiday occasions, ‘on Mother’s Day, for example, or around special school events.’ The last three months of the year with its many holidays now account for 33% of all online retail sales,’ he said. Health and beauty

Read more: One in every 10 retail purchases in the Netherlands is now made online - DutchNews.nl

Christmas 2009 - the reason for the season

Christians the world over are celebrating the birth of Christ today as the most significant event in the history of mankind.

Others are celebrating this religious event as a commercially vulgarized popular holiday. Mostly by indulging in a spending frenzy on things they don't need or can afford and an excessive consumption of food and drink. The religious aspect of this holiday has definitely lost it against commercialism, mainly because commerce seem to do a far better job on the marketing aspect of "the issue".

So for all of you who know the "reason for this season" - a very merry Christmas and for those who don't, may your credit card bill in January be kind to you.

http://www.eu-digest.com

EU-Digest - Largest ever Dutch Trade delegation visits Turkey - The Netherlands one of Turkey's most important investors

Largest ever Dutch Trade delegation visits Turkey - The Netherlands one of Turkey's most important investors

The Largest ever Dutch trade delegation is in Turkey this week - A truly Dutch economic invasion of Turkey. The delegation includes a total of 134 company representatives ranging from Personnel Management to Environmental Companies, and every other category in between. One newspaper reported that even some buses in Turkey are carrying banners with the slogan "Holland Pioneers in International Business".

The Dutch delegation is headed by his Excellency Frank Heemskerk, the Dutch State Secretary of Economic Affairs. Turkish PM his Excellency Recep Erdogan was so impressed by the size of the delegation that he changed his agenda to be able to receive the delegation later this week in Ankara.Yesterday the Dutch delegation cruised the Bosporus.

The Netherlands is one of the most important investors in Turkey. Last year Dutch investments in Turkey amounted to approximately euro 8.45 billion (US$11b. Turkey is also the 4th most important non-EU member trading partner of the Netherlands after Russia, Switzerland and the US.

The Turkish-Dutch who are citizens of the Netherlands of Turkish ancestry numbered 357,900 people in 2006, according to the Dutch Census Bureau. They make up 2.2% of the total population. The majority of Dutch Turks live in the four major cities of the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht). The first Turks arrived in the 1960s and 1970s as workers to fill up the labor shortage during that time in the Netherlands, as well as in other Western European countries. The majority of Dutch Turks adhere to Sunni Islam, although there is also a considerable Alevi fragment. A number of Turkish-Dutch writers have come to prominence. Halil Gür was one of the earliest, writing short stories about Turkish immigrants. Sadik Yemni is well known for his Turkish-Dutch detective stories. Sevtap Baycili is a more intellectual novelist, who's writing is not limited to migrant themes. Nebahat Albayrak (born April 10, 1968 in Şarkışla) is a Turkish-Dutch politician in the Netherlands. She is the current State Secretary of Justice in the Netherlands.