News & Insights

Dutch e-commerce association Thuiswinkel.org has published a new book about the future challenges for retail in the Netherlands. The publication features contributions from more than 20 influential entrepreneurs, scientists and visionaries, including Douwe Lycklama, a founding partner of INNOPAY. The book, titled Shopping 2030, provides insights into the key trends that will shape the country’s retail landscape in the years ahead and concludes that decisive action will be required in this decade full of change. Shopping 2030 is available from today.  

Dutch consumers are getting more and more used to the instant gratification provided by rapid delivery services. They are also increasingly critical about what they buy and where. And even though they are reluctant to share their data, they still expect a personalised approach. These are just some of the challenges that retailers will have to deal with over the coming decade. In their efforts to meet customers’ needs, retailers will increasingly turn to technological solutions such as algorithms for help. Technology will also blur the boundaries between the physical and the online worlds of shopping. 

Decentralised marketplaces, where local specialist retailers can join forces to form a chain of their own, will provide some resistance against Big Tech dominance. Governments will be able to – and should – restrict the power of the major tech players thanks to new regulations to create a more level playing field. Countless innovative business models will offer new opportunities in an increasingly decentralised and sustainable world. So retail still has a future in the Netherlands, but decisive action will be needed.  

Digital CSR 

“In the years ahead, retailers can turn their approach to data into a clear competitive advantage, just as they have done with sustainability over the past decade. This can be regarded as ‘digital CSR’, as an extension of corporate social responsibility as we currently know it. When faced with the choice, consumers will prefer retailers who offer data transparency, especially if those retailers also make it easy for the consumers to reuse their data elsewhere. This is similar to what the banks have gone through over the past ten years; the new PSD2 legislation has forced them to offer customers the option of reusing their data safely and conveniently elsewhere. This puts consumers in control of their data,” says Douwe Lycklama. 

This vision of the future is presented along with numerous other insights in Shopping 2030. Published by Thuiswinkel.org, the book has been co-written by Nik van Brink and Axel Groothuis from IT consultancy Magnus and Wim La Haye and Daniël Klomps from e-commerce agency Bluebird Day. The authors are all members of the scenario team for ShoppingTomorrow, which is a research platform initiated by Thuiswinkel.org.  

The book (Dutch content) is available now from Bol.com and Bruna.  

For more information, watch our recent broadcast about Big Tech and Dutch retail which we produced in conjunction with the De Nieuwe Wereld YouTube channel.