Post-purchase benchmark Benelux: How 100 major webshops perform during peak season

Eindhoven, February 10, 2026 — How do the biggest webshops in the Netherlands and Belgium perform on the post-purchase journey during peak season? To find out, Returnless, Salesupply, and Sendcloud ran a stress test on Black Friday '25, placing an order with 100 of the largest webshops in the Netherlands and Belgium. The new report, “The customer journey during peak season: How did the biggest webshops in the Benelux perform?”, maps out the full post-purchase journey: from delivery promise and shipping options to the returns process and customer service.

The conclusion: while delivery and the basics are often well handled, communication, returns processes, and customer service are where the customer experience still falls short — and where stores are leaving revenue on the table.

What stands out most?

During the busiest period of the year, the 100 webshops studied performed surprisingly well on delivery and keeping their delivery promise. But the post-purchase journey doesn't end there. The study uncovered clear friction points with a direct impact on customer experience, customer service pressure, and revenue. Here are the key findings:

Shipping & delivery

• 91% of orders arrived within the promised delivery time (91 out of 100).

• Average delivery time was 1.7 days; 58% delivered within 1 day and 27% within 2 days.

• Free shipping comes at a price: the average free-shipping threshold is €45.12.

Returns

• Free returns are no longer the norm: 70% of webshops charge for returns.

• 36% don't communicate clearly enough about refunds during the return process, which leads to extra customer questions — and extra cost.

• In most cases, there's little choice: 88% offer refunds only; exchanges (6%) and store credit or coupons (4%) remain limited.

Customer service

• Available when customers actually shop? Not yet: 92% are reachable during office hours, but only 28% on weekday evenings.

• The most common customer service channels are email (93%) and phone (89%). WhatsApp lags behind at 44%, despite the app's popularity.

• AI in customer service still isn't the norm: 69% have no live AI solution; 30% do.

Why post-purchase matters

In e-commerce, it's no longer just about price, product, and “on-time delivery.” Customer experience keeps mattering more, especially when competing with the Asian giants gaining ground in the European market. Much of that experience comes down to the post-purchase phase. This is where a webshop makes the difference: meeting expectations, resolving frustrations, and handling returns well. The combination of limited delivery choices, complex return processes, and unreachable customer service is exactly where retailers are still leaving opportunities on the table.

Everything about post-purchase in one report

Want to dig deeper into how these webshops performed during peak season and find out which small changes can have a big impact on customer satisfaction and revenue? This report brings together the key figures, analysis, and recommendations — free and available now via this link.

About Sendcloud

Sendcloud is Europe's shipping platform, helping e-commerce businesses scale their shipping process effortlessly and give customers a first-class delivery experience.

Founded in 2012 to give e-commerce businesses of every size an equal shot, we're trusted by 30,000 brands across Europe. Backed by SoftBank, we work every day toward our vision of simplifying shipping worldwide.

About Returnless

Returnless helps e-commerce companies get a grip on their returns. With its returns platform, online retailers and fulfillment companies can handle returns faster, cut costs, and prevent future returns.

With more than 1,250 customers, Returnless gives e-commerce companies of every size a way to manage returns like the biggest brands in e-commerce.

About Salesupply

Salesupply is a Dutch e-commerce service provider specializing in e-commerce fulfillment and customer service. More than 500 online brands and retailers worldwide rely on Salesupply's services.

Salesupply offers native-language customer service in 36 languages across 3 time zones. Thanks to its scalable, flexible fulfillment platform, webshops can compete with local players anywhere in the world through local storage and delivery.