If you want to succeed in Europe, it probably should. According to the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics, 30% of the Dutch population made an online purchase in 2005. This is a bit higher than the UK and Germany and much higher than the 20% average for the EU.
And how does the US do in comparison? I couldn’t find an apples-to-apples statistic, but according to Jupiter Research, Americans spent $81 billion online last year and by 2010 nearly half of all retail sales will be influenced by the Internet — either directly or as a research tool.
As for Dutch, last year I surveyed the Web sites of 200 major multinational companies. Only 75 of the companies offered Dutch support, compared to 171 sites supporting French. So there’s a lot of room for improvement here — and lots of opportunity.
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