The Netherlands’ 300 biggest webshops booked a collective decline in sales of €26 billion in 2022, some 2% down on the 2021 total, according to the latest edition of Twinkle100, which monitors online shopping. 

It is the first time since Twinkle began monitoring the sector 16 years ago that sales have declined.

Like last year, Bol.com is top of the list, with sales of €4 billion, followed by Albert Heijn and Coolblue. Zalando has now overtaken Amazon to take fourth place. 

Sales had shot up by over 27% in 2021 because of the coronavirus restrictions. “The coronanvirus crisis gave online retail a boost of some five times the average annual growth,” said Twinkle director Daniel Verheij. “But there are limits.”

Online supermarkets do, however, still show considerable potential, he said. 

Around one third of the online retailers in the survey currently charge for returns but that is changing, with top performers such as Zalando now adding fees. “Consumers are used to the ease of online shopping and they accept changes,” he said.