Building an online store has never been easier. In a short time you can buy a domain, install a platform such as WordPress or WooCommerce, pick a theme and start adding products.

Creating the site is not the hard part. The real challenge starts after it goes live.

For an Arab grocery or specialty shop in the Netherlands with hundreds or thousands of products, e-commerce quickly becomes an operations problem. It needs time, know-how and ongoing resources — not just a launch day.

E-commerce in the Netherlands is large — but launching a site is only the start

The Netherlands is one of Europe’s most online shopping markets. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), 87% of people aged 16 to 75 in the Netherlands had shopped online in 2024 — the highest share among EU countries in that CBS comparison. Dutch consumers spent about €35.7 billion online in 2025 across 347 million purchases, and iDEAL remained the most used payment method at 71%, according to the Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor figures published with Betaalvereniging Nederland.

Demand online does not mean going digital is simple for a small shop. KVK itself notes that a simple webshop can be online quickly, while turning it into a successful business takes far more than launch day: products, suppliers, payments, rules, shipping and returns.

That gap matters most for shops with large catalogues. The more products you sell, the more work sits in photos, descriptions, categories, prices, stock, variants and translations — plus payments, delivery and customer service.

This is the gap MnBaladna works on: the problem is not giving a merchant a page on the internet. It is reducing the technical and operational stack they must build and run alone.

The market is already there

In the business sector, CBS reports that 50% of companies in trade and 37% of companies in hospitality (horeca) with 10 or more employees made electronic sales in 2024. These figures cover firms with at least ten staff, so they should not be read as a direct measure of the smallest local shops. Still, they show how common online selling already is in retail and food service. See CBS — Digitalisering en kenniseconomie 2025.

Competition is visible in the register too: 110,529 webshops were listed with KVK on 1 January 2025, and in 2024 alone 2,184 new webshops started in food and drugstore products. Source: KVK — Een webwinkel starten?.

So for a local shop the question is no longer only “How do I create an online store?” It is: how do I run a large online store continuously without becoming a software company?

Why digitising a grocery store is different from launching a simple website

A boutique with a few dozen SKUs and a grocery with hundreds or thousands of packs are not the same project. MnBaladna’s 2026 working comparison:

MnBaladna analysis — 2026. Journalists and researchers may cite this comparison with attribution to MnBaladna.

The problem is not launching the website

From the outside the project looks simple: a shop, photos, prices, a buy button, then orders. But every product needs details that must stay accurate: name, photo, brand, weight or pack size, category, variants, stock, price, description and translation into more than one language.

When the catalogue reaches hundreds or thousands of items, this is no longer a one-off task. It becomes a system that needs daily updates. Products change, packs change, sizes disappear and reappear, suppliers change, and prices and stock need constant review.

Managing a store with hundreds of products is not just data entry. Photos, weights, brands, variants and translations make managing a large catalogue a different challenge from building the store itself.

Shop owners want to sell — not become a tech team

A shop owner is a merchant first. Their strength is usually buying goods, knowing customers, choosing the right range, managing suppliers and serving people well.

A traditional DIY online store can also make them responsible for the website, product edits, bug fixes, developers, hosting, payment gateways, plugins and subscriptions, translation, photos, stock updates — and sometimes even server problems.

Beyond development spend, there are hidden costs of running an online store: maintenance, services, integrations and the owner’s time. KVK lists typical costs such as an e-commerce platform subscription, domain, product purchasing, marketing and shipping — and notes that customer service and financial handling also take time, while payment providers usually charge per transaction.

More languages mean more complexity

In a market like the Netherlands, a shop may serve people who search in Arabic, Dutch, English or German. The same product may need more than one name, description and way of being found.

Translation here is not only converting words. Food names, brands and ingredients need an understanding of how people in this market actually search. Tech alone is not enough, because understanding the local market can matter as much as building the website.

Tech alone does not know the market

A skilled developer can build an online store. Building it well does not mean understanding the products inside it. Someone who does not know the Arab grocery market may miss how products differ, how customers group them, which names people use, and which items belong together.

Even neighbouring European markets are not identical — so you cannot always copy an Arab store model from Germany to the Netherlands as-is. Packs, suppliers, prices and available brands can differ.

Why shared infrastructure makes more sense

One practical response is shared digital infrastructure that lowers the technical burden on small stores. Instead of every shop rebuilding the same stack, a platform can carry much of the catalogue tooling, payments, delivery, translation and ops — while the merchant keeps control of assortment, pricing, stock and service.

Merchants on MnBaladna can register their store, use the MnBaladna Store app to manage orders and stock, and — on every plan — activate a store website from the dashboard. You can see how a grocery catalogue can look in the Makhzan demo store (test payments only; not a live shop for customers). See also selling on MnBaladna: registration, orders and payouts and plans for merchants.

E-commerce should not turn a merchant into a software company

Small shops do not always need more tools. Sometimes they need fewer tools that fit together better.

The real challenge in digitising local trade is not only giving a shop owner a website. It is cutting the number of technical tasks they must run themselves.

That is the gap MnBaladna works on: shared digital commerce infrastructure shaped around Arab products and the local Dutch market — so success does not start at launch day, but when running the shop online is easier than running it the old way.

Sources

• CBS — Digitalisering en kenniseconomie 2025
• KVK — Een webwinkel starten? Begin hier
• Betaalvereniging Nederland — Online bestedingen 2025 (Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor)

Helpful guides

• Why managing a large catalogue is harder than building an online store
• The hidden cost of running a small online store
• Why local market knowledge matters more than the website
• Why you cannot copy an Arab store from Germany to the Netherlands
• How shared infrastructure helps small stores sell online
• Start as a seller on MnBaladna
• Register your store
• Get a professional website with your MnBaladna subscription