Retail sales in the Netherlands rose by 2.8% year-on-year in July 2026, the weakest increase since February and slightly below June’s 2.9% gain. Revenue growth among food and beverage retailers slowed to 1.5% from 2.3% in the previous month, as more modest growth in supermarkets (1.6% vs 2.6%) more than offset an improvement at specialty stores (0.7% vs 0.4%).
Online sales also grew at a slower pace, up 3.8% compared with 7.5% a year earlier, with all major e-commerce players reporting weaker growth. By contrast, turnover in the non-food sector accelerated to 3.6% from 3.3%, driven mainly by drugstores (12.5% vs 7.4%) and by consumer electronics and white goods (5.5% vs 5.8%). Furniture and home furnishings (2.6% vs -0.8%) and shoes and leather goods (0.6% vs -4.7%) also returned to growth.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales increased by 0.6% in July, rebounding from a 0.1% decline in June.
