Although Dutch consumers are expected to spend over €10bn online this year, the Netherlands still trails many other European countries in terms of web-based shopping, according to ABN Amro research.

Online sales are equivalent to 4.2% of total retail spending in the Netherlands, but the percentage is much higher in other countries, ABN Amro said. For example, in Germany the figure is 5.1% and in Britain 9.5%.

Dutch high streets benefit from the good spread of shops so people are less likely to go shopping online, the researchers said.

One-man operations

In 1998, just 2% of people bought products online but this has risen to 70% this year.

The number of online retailers in the Dutch market has more than doubled since 2006. There are now 45,000 companies which offer web retail. However, 75% of them have just one employee.