Joris Knoben, professor of Business Economics at Radboud University, expects this trend to continue in the coming months: “Corona support has been phased out, but many entrepreneurs are still struggling with the financial consequences of the pandemic. At the same time, energy costs and inflation are skyrocketing. It is therefore no great surprise that the number of quitters and bankruptcies is rising.”
The number of starters is also lower in March 2022 than in the same month last year. With 23,639 starters, the decrease is 8%. The decrease in the number of start-ups is greatest in the retail sector, at 44% compared to March last year. However, there is no sign of a large increase in quitters or bankruptcies in the retail sector. “Here we see a stabilization of the business landscape,” Knoben points out.
Webshops
In March 2022, the balance of starters and quitters in physical stores and market trade will be virtually zero. At 376, the balance of online stores is still slightly positive, but the boom in new online stores that emerged in the first quarter of last year is clearly behind us. Knoben: “With the reopening of the economy and the return to the office, there are fewer market opportunities for internet shops. So many have started in the past two years that you would expect a ‘shake-out’ with quite a few quitters. The fact that we have not (yet) seen this has to do with the low costs of running an online store.”
In a number of sectors, such as transport services, a large increase in both starters and quitters can be seen. “Under the surface there is an enormous dynamic that is associated with the new phase of the pandemic we are in,” Knoben says. “Delivery from physical stores and catering, the click-and-collect-like services, are largely a thing of the past. On the other hand, the demand for parcel delivery from online stores continues to grow. So there is an increase in activity there.”
The total number of Dutch companies increased further as of April 1, 2022 to 2,227,028, an increase of more than 6% compared to a year ago.