Blog: E-commerce ready for the holidays

The holiday season is almost there – with 268 million European online shoppers you better be ready for the busiest time in e-commerce. Partner up with The Netherlands to guarantee a delivery and customer experience Santa Claus worthy!

It’s the busiest and most challenging time in e-commerce: the holiday season, with Black Friday kicking it off November 29. Customers are not only looking for a good bargain but also quick delivery – on their terms. Customer experience is key for a sustainable future in e-commerce. To make sure you can successfully answer to this, you need a trustworthy partner with an excellent reach. The Netherlands is just that.

The center of the biggest e-markets
€198 billion was spend online by European customers in 2018. This is expected to grow to a staggering €418 billion in 2022! Germany, France and the UK consumers spend the most: together they are good for over 50% of the European market. The Dutch consumers are number 4, accounting for almost 20%. Making The Netherlands the best possible location for your European e-fulfilment center.

Thanks to its central location, in the very center of the three biggest e-markets, you are guaranteed short lead times. 244 million customers are within a 1000 km reach. Germany, France and the UK are literally just a few hours away. Express networks make next/same day delivery possible for a big part of Europe. Which can also be reached by regular road transport and parcel networks in just 1-3 days! It is not without reason we rank number 1 in The DHL Global Connectedness Index (2018). So, wherever Santa needs to go to deliver his presents… we make sure he delivers on time!

Cross border business environment
This is also thanks to our pro-business climate. The pro-active (highly digitized) customs, our VAT deferment and bonded warehouses possibilities make for a smooth, quick and easy entry into the European e-market. It is why The Netherlands scores highest in mainland Europe when it comes to pro-business regulations. And is the reason we are the most conducive to the start-up and operation of a European e-Fulfilment Center.
Setting up your European supply chain in The Netherlands guarantees your transport will be as fast and efficient as Santa’s sleigh with reindeer.

Strong logistic base
And your operations will be as efficient as Santa’s elves because The Netherlands has the highest density of Logistic Service Providers (LSPs), offering a wide variety in value added logistics (VAL) and – services (VAS). Like:

• Assembly and repair
• Testing, sampling and quality control
• Packaging and labelling
• Fiscal representation
• Inventory management
• Control tower support

So, you can not only customize your product to the various European markets almost at the very end of your supply chain, making it highly efficient, but you can also easily meet the high, last-minute, demands of the e-customers.

Make sure consumers experience your service as if it was from Santa himself! Create a sustainable and growing e-supply chain – all year round. Use The Netherlands as your gateway to Europe.