Dutch Ecommerce Faces Severe Digital Skills Gap

The e-commerce market in the Netherlands is characterised by a large number of self-employed people. News from CBS shows that almost two-thirds of the people who work in the business do so as freelancers. Only one-third work directly for businesses.

The need for skills keeps growing, even though the number of job openings has gone down. People who are good at marketing, customer service, and online marketing are in high demand. But in the next six months, there will likely be the most job openings for software workers.

At the time, 23% of Dutch e-commerce companies are having trouble hiring people to fill open positions. The main reasons offered are that there aren’t enough applicants, they don’t have enough work experience, and they want high salaries. It’s especially hard for staff in top and specialized roles to do their jobs.

The study makes it clear how important it is to learn about digital business, AI, and safety right away. Companies should work to improve the digital skills gap of the people they already have on staff and consider hiring outside experts to fill in the gaps in their skills.

Marlene ten Ham is the general director of Thuiswinkel.org. She talks a lot about how AI is changing the job market and wants businesses and schools to work together more. She also wants the government to fund programs that teach people new skills, especially AI-related skills, so that Dutch ecommerce can make up for the growing lack of digital skills.