iDEAL market share rises again

As in the previous year, iDEAL was the most widely used payment method for online purchases and its share continued to grow. Consumers in the Netherlands also spent more on average on purchases made through mobile devices in the first half of 2015 than in the first half of 2014. AfterPay and PayPal recorded notable increases. This was shown by figures from the eCommerce Payment Monitor, a study of payment methods in the Netherlands conducted by GfK in collaboration with iDEAL and Thuiswinkel.org , the industry association for more than 2,200 Dutch online and physical shops.

iDEAL share rises again

Almost 67 million online purchases were made in the first half of 2015. More than half (56%) were paid for with iDEAL, up from 54% in the same period a year earlier. The increase was mainly because people increasingly used iDEAL to pay for purchases on mobile devices. In the first half of 2014, 25% of all smartphone purchases were paid for with iDEAL; by the first half of 2015, this had risen to 35%. iDEAL also strengthened its position for purchases made on tablets, accounting for more than half of payments in the first half of 2015, compared with 46% in 2014. Credit cards were the second most widely used payment method after iDEAL, with their share remaining stable at 12%. AfterPay and PayPal grew rapidly in relative terms, while the use of Acceptgiro fell sharply.

AfterPay and PayPal gain popularity

Almost 1.4 million online purchases were paid for with AfterPay in the first half of 2015, compared with just over 727,000 in the first half of 2014. AfterPay’s share therefore doubled from 1% to 2%. The increase was particularly visible in fashion. AfterPay was used for 4% of all online clothing purchases in the first half of 2015, up from 2% a year earlier. A similar pattern was seen for online shoe purchases: AfterPay was used for 5% of all footwear and lifestyle purchases, compared with 2% the previous year.

PayPal also grew strongly. Its share of online purchases rose to 5% in the first half of 2015, from 4% a year earlier. PayPal had a relatively strong position in media and entertainment, the largest e-commerce sector by absolute number of online purchases. This category included CDs, DVDs and books, as well as music downloads, streaming subscriptions and paid apps. PayPal was used for 8% of online purchases in this category, up from 6%.

Average spending through mobile devices increases

Consumers in the Netherlands still mainly used laptops and desktop computers for online purchases (77%). However, the shift towards paying by smartphone continued slowly but steadily. Smartphones accounted for 6% of all online purchases, up from 5% in 2014. Although this share still appeared relatively small, the absolute number of purchases made by smartphone grew faster than the market as a whole. Tablets accounted for 14%, unchanged from 2014.

The strong increase in the average value of digital shopping baskets for purchases through mobile devices was notable. The average tablet purchase was €98 (+21%) and the average smartphone basket was €55 (+27%). “Consumers in the Netherlands are becoming increasingly comfortable with online purchases through smartphones and tablets. This is shown by the rise in average spending through these devices and by the fact that almost 3.8 million purchases were made by smartphone. Growth could accelerate if payment institutions invest in even simpler payment solutions such as one-click buy,” said Paul Alfing, senior payments adviser at Thuiswinkel.org.

Members and business partners of Thuiswinkel.org could download the factsheet after logging in to the Thuiswinkel.org website (in Dutch).