50+ key statistics on SMB digitalization: from websites and cloud to AI, e-commerce and cybersecurity, with the Netherlands as a European case study. Every figure links to its source (CBS, Eurostat, KVK, RVO).
Searchlab Research
Updated: 9 November 2026 • Sources: CBS, Eurostat, KVK, RVO, Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship
01 — SMBs by the Numbers
Small and medium-sized businesses form the backbone of the Dutch economy: 99.8% of all businesses have fewer than 250 people, and many of them rely on an online marketing agency to compete with larger players. For Dutch companies, what these figures mean when building a site: more on web design agency (in Dutch).
| Category | Persons employed | Count | % of all businesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo / one-person business | 1 | 2,027,790 | 82.8% |
| Micro-business | 2-9 | 350,230 | 14.3% |
| Small business | 10-49 | 56,375 | 2.3% |
| Mid-sized business | 50-249 | 12,190 | 0.5% |
| Large business | 250+ | 3,775 | 0.2% |
Source: CBS StatLine 81589NED, 2026 (provisional; counts for 2-9, 10-49 and 50-249 are sums of CBS size classes, shares calculated by Searchlab)
The number of businesses with fewer than 250 people grew from 2,388,755 to 2,446,580 between Q4 2025 and Q4 2026: +2.4% (CBS, 2026). The KVK trade register counted 2,599,668 registered businesses on 1 January 2026, only 1% more than a year earlier and the lowest growth in years (KVK, 2026).
In 2025 the number of starters fell by 10% and the number of businesses closing rose by 18%. Among sole traders, closures rose by 19% and starts fell by 13%, while bankruptcies dropped by 21% (KVK, 2026). Lower barriers to digital business operations do not show up as faster business growth yet.
Value added by Dutch SMEs (including sole traders) rose from €205,201 million in 2016 to €357,201 million in 2025, an increase of more than 74%, partly reflecting higher prices. In 2023, 85% of Dutch businesses had no employees, against 61% on average in the EU (Staat van het mkb, 2026).
Note: CBS (business register) and KVK (trade register registrations) count differently. Staat van het mkb uses the business economy, without government, agriculture, finance, education and care.
02 — Digitalization Level
Instead of a single composite score, this section uses Eurostat's Digital Intensity Index (DII): the indicator behind the EU target for SMEs. The index scores how many digital technologies a business uses, from very low to very high.
SMEs (10-249 employees) with at least a basic level of digital intensity, 2025. Source: Eurostat isoc_e_dii, 2025
Dutch SMEs are not just at basic level: 42.0% have a high and 20.2% a very high digital intensity, against 27.2% and 9.1% in the EU (Eurostat, 2025).
The gap is inside the SME group. Of Dutch businesses with 2-9 employees, 56.7% reach the basic level (46.7% in 2023), against 87.3% of businesses with 10-49 employees and 97.9% of large businesses (Eurostat, 2025).
By sector, 98% of businesses in information and communication reach the basic level, while 41% of hospitality businesses have a low digital intensity. The workforce is ready: 84% of Dutch people aged 16-74 have at least basic digital skills, the highest share in the EU (EU: 60%) (CBS, 2026).
03 — Online Presence
Almost every Dutch SME with 10 or more employees has a website, but among the smallest businesses website ownership is falling. What that website does for customers varies a lot.
Website ownership rises with size: 40% of sole traders, 69% of businesses with 2-9 people, 91% with 10-49, 95% with 50-249 and 98% of large businesses (CBS, 2025).
Among businesses with 2-9 employees, the share with a website fell from 73.3% in 2021 to 70.1% in 2023 and 67.8% in 2025 (Eurostat, 2025; Eurostat and CBS use a different sector coverage, hence 67.8% against 69%). Only 6% of businesses with 2-9 people offer customers a mobile app, against 30% of large businesses (CBS, 2025). More and more business owners are turning to AI-driven marketing to improve their online presence.
04 — Cloud & SaaS
Dutch SMEs buy cloud software far more often than the EU average, especially for accounting and CRM. Among sole traders and micro-businesses, cloud use is much lower.
| Cloud service | Netherlands | EU average |
|---|---|---|
| 62.9% | 44.0% | |
| File storage | 58.7% | 36.7% |
| Office software | 58.0% | 36.8% |
| Security software | 54.9% | 33.6% |
| Finance or accounting software | 52.8% | 30.2% |
| CRM software | 38.8% | 13.9% |
| ERP software | 31.2% | 15.2% |
Source: Eurostat isoc_cicce_use, 2025
Business software overall: 53.1% of Dutch SMEs use CRM software (EU 27.4%), 51.2% ERP (EU 45.2%) and 33.9% business intelligence software (EU 14.7%) (Eurostat, 2025).
Size matters most. CRM software in the cloud is used by 3% of sole traders, 15% of businesses with 2-9 people and 37% with 10-49 people; for ERP software it is 1%, 6% and 27% (CBS, 2025). Paid cloud use at SMEs (10-249) was 70.2% in 2024 and 67.6% in 2025 (Eurostat, 2025).
06 — AI Adoption
AI use among Dutch businesses doubled in two years, but small businesses still lag far behind large ones.
| Size | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-9 | 7% | 11% | 14% |
| 10-49 | 11% | 19% | 27% |
| 50-249 | 20% | 31% | 45% |
| 250+ | 42% | 53% | 66% |
| Total | 8% | 13% | 17% |
Source: CBS, 2025 (2025 provisional)
| Technology | % of SMEs |
|---|---|
| Text analysis (text mining) | 22.0% |
| Generating language or code | 15.4% |
| Speech recognition | 10.7% |
| Machine learning for data analysis | 8.6% |
| Workflow automation or decision support | 7.6% |
| Image recognition | 4.7% |
Source: Eurostat isoc_eb_ai, 2025
Three quarters of businesses do not use AI and have not considered it. Of those that considered AI but do not use it, 73% cite lack of experience, 49% privacy, 42% legal consequences and 15% that AI is not useful to them. Of businesses that do use AI, 35% use it for marketing or sales (CBS, 2025).
Among SMEs with 10-249 employees, AI use rose from 13.1% (2023) to 21.9% (2024) and 31.9% (2025) (Eurostat, 2025). SMBs that invest in AI marketing start with concrete tasks such as text and content.
07 — E-commerce
Dutch SMEs sell online more often than the EU average, and e-commerce makes up a larger share of their turnover. The share of SMEs selling online has been edging down since 2023.
| Indicator | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-commerce sales (incl. EDI) | 30.0% | 29.8% | 28.0% |
| Web sales | 26.5% | 26.4% | 24.4% |
| Web sales to consumers (B2C) | 19.4% | 19.1% | 17.8% |
| Sales via e-commerce marketplaces | 10.0% | 9.0% | 7.8% |
Source: Eurostat isoc_ec_esels, 2025
Of SME turnover, 7.5% comes from web sales via their own website or app and 1.0% via marketplaces (Eurostat, 2025).
By sector, 50% of trade businesses with 10+ employees sold online in 2024, 37% in hospitality and 8% in construction; across all sectors it was 27% (CBS, 2026). Businesses that invest in conversion optimisation and AI-driven personalization make more of the traffic they already have.
08 — Cybersecurity
Fewer Dutch businesses are hit by cyberattacks than ten years ago, but small businesses take far fewer security measures than large ones.
Large businesses are hit more often: 16% of businesses with 250+ employees had an incident from an outside attack in 2024, unchanged from 2023 (CBS, 2026). Ransomware hit 1% of small businesses and 2% of large ones; small and micro-businesses paid no ransom (CBS, 2026).
Measured more broadly, including hardware failures, 25.1% of Dutch SMEs (10-249) had an ICT security incident in 2024 (EU 21.0%) (Eurostat, 2024).
The protection gap: 13% of businesses with 2-9 employees take 10 or more of 12 security measures, against 86% of large businesses; 33% of them encrypt data, against 91% of large businesses (CBS, 2026). Only 8% of businesses with 2-9 people know the Digital Trust Center. Cyber insurance ranges from 7% of sole traders and 15% of businesses with 2-9 people to 46% of large businesses (CBS, 2025).
Dutch SMEs score well on basics: 86.9% back up data to a separate location and 77.7% combine at least two authentication methods (EU 38.7%). Staff awareness lags: 48.5% make employees aware of their security obligations, against 59.0% in the EU (Eurostat, 2024).
The Dutch Cyberbeveiligingswet, which implements the EU NIS2 directive, has applied since 15 August 2026 to thousands of organisations in 18 sectors (Rijksoverheid, 2026).
09 — Investment
There are no reliable public figures on how much SMEs spend on digitalization. What is measured is the use of the largest Dutch R&D tax incentive, the WBSO, which also covers software development.
In 2025, businesses had about €8.7 billion in R&D costs approved under the WBSO. Of the WBSO users, 2,389 were starters and almost 950 were self-employed. RVO's trend overview also shows +49% for requests involving cybersecurity (RVO, 2026).
Growth now has to come from productivity: SME employment has grown by just over 1% a year since 2023, against 3.5% before. Staat van het mkb concludes that SMEs do not avoid digitalization but need a profitable business case, and that drawing one up already requires digital skills that are often missing (Staat van het mkb, 2026).
10 — Trends & Predictions
Five developments that will shape 2026-2028, based on measured figures rather than forecasts.
Trend #1
AI use among Dutch businesses with 2+ people doubled in two years: from 8% (2023) to 17% (2025). The steepest rise was among businesses with 50-249 people, from 20% to 45%.
Source: CBS, 2025
17%
Businesses using AI
Trend #2
The share of Dutch SMEs selling via e-commerce marketplaces fell from 10.0% (2023) to 7.8% (2025), below the EU average of 9.2%. Only 1.0% of SME turnover goes through marketplaces.
Source: Eurostat, 2025
7.8%
SMEs via marketplaces
Trend #3
Since 15 August 2026 the Cyberbeveiligingswet (NIS2) applies to thousands of organisations in 18 sectors, with legal duties for security and incident reporting.
Source: Rijksoverheid, 2026
18
Sectors covered
Trend #4
17.4% of Dutch SMEs show personalised website content to returning visitors, twice the EU average of 8.5%. 12.8% offer a chat service on their site.
Source: Eurostat, 2025
17.4%
Personalised websites
Trend #5
Of businesses with 2-9 employees, 56.7% reach a basic level of digital intensity, against 88.8% of SMEs with 10-249 employees and 97.9% of large businesses.
Source: Eurostat, 2025
56.7%
Micro at basic level
The key driver behind these trends: affordable cloud and AI tools reach the smallest businesses last. The Netherlands, 3rd in the EU on SME digital intensity, shows where the gap closes and where it does not.
11 — Key Takeaways
What the data tells us about SMB digitalization in 2026.
89% of Dutch SMEs (10-249) reach the basic level of digital intensity, 3rd in the EU after Finland and Denmark. Among businesses with 2-9 employees it is 56.7%.
91.6% of SMEs with 10+ employees have a website, but only 69% of businesses with 2-9 people and 40% of sole traders. In the Eurostat series for 2-9 employees it fell from 73.3% (2021) to 67.8% (2025).
17% of businesses with 2+ people use AI, up from 8% in 2023. Lack of experience (73%) is the main reason for not using it.
4% of businesses had an incident from an outside attack in 2024 (11% in 2016), but only 13% of small businesses take 10 or more of 12 measures, against 86% of large ones.
18,932 businesses used the WBSO in 2025, 97% of them SMEs, and R&D requests involving AI rose 77% in five years.
12 — Methodology & Sources
All statistics on this page come from official statistics (CBS, Eurostat), the KVK trade register, RVO and the Staat van het mkb 2026 report. Every figure links to its source. Eurostat SME figures cover businesses with 10-249 employees; CBS figures also include sole traders and businesses with 2-9 people where stated.
Updated 9 November 2026. Figures marked provisional may be revised by the source. Percentages are rounded to one decimal where the source gives decimals.
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Ruud ten Have
Marketing & AI Strategy
Ruud is a digital marketer with 10+ years of experience in online advertising and AI implementation. At Searchlab, he combines strategic thinking with hands-on AI tooling to deliver measurable results for businesses.
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05 — Social Media & Marketing
Social media & online marketing for SMBs
Social media is the most widely used online channel for Dutch SMEs. Paid online advertising is used by a minority, but more often than elsewhere in the EU.
83.4%
SMEs (10-249) using social media
EU: 62.8%
Source: Eurostat, 2025
40.8%
SMEs paying for online ads
EU: 32.0%
Source: Eurostat, 2024
43.6%
Use two or more types of social media
EU: 30.6%
Source: Eurostat, 2023
Dutch SMEs (10-249 employees). Social media types 2023, advertising 2024. Source: Eurostat isoc_cismt
Large Dutch businesses advertise online far more often: 61.5% of businesses with 250+ employees paid for online ads in 2024, against 40.8% of SMEs (Eurostat, 2024).
AI enters marketing too: 11.7% of Dutch SMEs use AI for marketing or sales (EU 6.5%) (Eurostat, 2025). If you would rather outsource campaigns, see how an AI marketing agency works.