Some 208 million parcels were delivered in the Netherlands last year

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The increasing popularity of online shopping helped drive up parcel deliveries in the Netherlands by 11% last year. In total, 208 million packages were delivered within the Netherlands in 2015, while 92 million parcels were sent from the Netherlands over the border, the Dutch consumers’ authority ACM said in a snapshot of the market on Friday.

At the same time, cost of delivery plunged 6.7% in the Netherlands and 20% abroad, the ACM said.

The downward prices stem from the fact that a few large webshops have developed a strong purchasing position and are able to force down tariffs, the ACM said.

PostNL has some 55% to 60% of the Dutch market, followed by DHL Parcel with 25% to 30%. The rest of the market is in the hands of small local players. Parcel delivery firms are also expanding their network of delivery points. Last year there were 6,300 nationwide, of which 2,900 were in the hands of PostNL.