Lotte Oostrom, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) Measuring the internet economy in The Netherlands: a big data analyses Lotte Oostrom, Statistics Netherlands (CBS)

Aim of the study Main research question: “What is the importance of the internet economy to the Dutch economy?” The aim of the research project was fourfold: Determine a pragmatic definition of “the internet economy” Show the importance and size of the internet economy in NL Show the possibilities of new measurement methods with big data Explain differences from regular statistics/concepts

Dataprovider dataset: 2,5 million Dutch websites Country, address, company name, Chamber of Commerce number, taks number, phone number, e-mail, ….. Business information eCommerce probability, shopping cart software, delivery services, payment methods, products, prices,… eCommerce Title, description, keywords, category, language, author…. Content Marketing, social media, links, technical and hosting information, … Other

Definition of the internet economy Businesses without a website Businesses with a website that do not belong to category C, D or E Online stores according to eCommerce variables Online services or internet related ICT according to keyword analysis

Merging to the GBR

Merging to the GBR: results

Number of business by internet category, 2015 975,000 438,000 68,000 28,500 5,700 16,000

Relative distribution of number of companies, jobs, turnover and value added by Internet categories, 2015 The core of the internet economy (online stores, online services and internet related ICT) consists of 50,000 businesses and provides 345,000 jobs (4.4% of the total) and a turnover of € 104 billion (7.7% of the total).

The core of the internet economy compared to other sectors In terms of size, the core of the internet economy is roughly comparable to industries like ‘construction’ or ‘accommodation and food service activities’ or ‘transportation and storage’.

Regional distribution Certain regions are more prominent in the internet economy than others. Online stores Online services Internet related ICT

Relative size of businesses More than 80 per cent of the businesses without a website and three quarters of the online stores have only 1 employee.

Relative age of businesses The businesses without a website, online stores and online services are relatively ‘young’ compared to the other categories.

Heatmap businesses with website

Future plans Improve method by using machine learning/Artificial Intelligence and additional datasources. Obtain time series for several years Repeat the study in other countries -> Germany & UK (Dataprovider already has data on more than 40 countries!) Turn into regular statistics? For more information: Discussion paper l.oostrom@cbs.nl