Panteia researches E-commerce Labour Market for Thuiswinkel.org

Over the past year, Panteia and Thuiswinkel.org have conducted research into the size, composition, developments and bottlenecks in the Dutch e-commerce labour market. The research focused on e-commerce jobs at mbo, AD, hbo and wo levels.

This concerns job types with ‘digital skills’ as a core competence across the different functional areas within e-commerce: e-marketing, e-commerce (professional and operations), e-supply chain (professional and operations), e-ICT and e-data. Similar research was carried out in 2016, allowing for some comparisons.

In 2016, Panteia conducted a labour market study for the e-commerce sector on behalf of Thuiswinkel.org and the Human Capital Tafel Logistiek. Since then, the sector has grown enormously. According to the most recent Thuiswinkel Mark Monitor, online spending increased from €22.5 billion in 2017 to €34.7 billion in 2023.

As in other sectors, there is also a major labour shortage in e-commerce. Labour market research by Panteia in 2022 on behalf of INretail for the non-food retail sector showed that the number of vacancies in that sector had risen from 5,518 in 2019 to 12,712 in 2021. The same study also revealed that the share of vacancies in webshops compared with physical shops had increased.

In addition to the tight labour market, both the types of jobs and the required competences have changed since 2016. For instance in the digitalisation of work: the use of automation and AI is increasing. Several universities of applied sciences (hbo) and vocational colleges (mbo) have already indicated to Thuiswinkel.org that they want to enrich their programmes to meet this new demand for competences. It is also important for current employees to continue developing in practice. Here too, it is vital to identify what knowledge and skills they need now and in the future to continue performing their work effectively.

For this reason, Thuiswinkel.org once again commissioned Panteia to carry out a labour market study for e-commerce. The aim was to produce an up-to-date overview of the qualitative and quantitative labour market in e-commerce. This makes it relevant for companies, educational institutions and trade organisations.

The report covers:

• The (e-commerce) labour market and shortages
• The development of (hard-to-fill) vacancies
• The development of competences
• The impact of AI on the labour market
• The impact of sustainability on the labour market
• The use of labour migrants & outsourcing of tasks
• The alignment with education

Download the full report (in Dutch) here.

For questions about this report, please contact our researchers.

 

Quote from our client – Marlene ten Ham, General Director of Thuiswinkel.org:

“E-commerce has grown enormously in recent years, from €22.5 billion in 2017 to €34.7 billion in 2023. This makes the e-commerce sector an important driver of growth for the Dutch economy. This research provides a good overview of the composition of the e-commerce labour market, as well as the developments and challenges within it. In recent years, much has changed: the labour market has become tighter, and due to rapid innovation in the e-commerce sector, we see a demand for different skills. The impact of AI on the labour market is enormous, and this research shows that many employers find (new) employees lack skills in the field of AI. There are also gaps in skills related to cybersecurity and sustainability. It is crucial that businesses work together with (higher) education to ensure a better match between graduates and the e-commerce labour market. We also call on the government to invest in the re- and upskilling of workers in the field of AI.”