Market note
Selling an online business in Netherlands
A dense e-commerce market with high internet penetration, a strong domestic marketplace and a large population of owner-operated webshops.
Channels
Search and the domestic marketplace dominate. A large share of smaller online businesses generate most of their orders through a single marketplace account, which makes the transferability of that account a central question in any transaction.
Structures
Share transactions are common where the business sits in a private limited company, and the participation exemption is the reason most sellers prefer that route. Asset deals are used for smaller operations and for sole traders.
Buyers
A mixture of individual buyers looking for a first company, existing webshop operators consolidating within a niche, and small investment groups building portfolios of online brands.
Practical
Registration and transfer of a company is quick by European standards. The bottleneck in most transactions is not the notary but the reassignment of marketplace and advertising accounts.
Businesses currently offered across Europe are published at the European marketplace (https://www.businessforsale.eu/online-business-for-sale).