Three years after its launch, P2P payment app Tikkie had "around" six million users in the Netherlands with several thousands of B2B users.Tikkie is an app that was launched by Dutch bank ABN Amro in June 2016 and uses both WhatsApp as well as iDEAL, a system in the Netherlands that allows consumers to use their debit cards for online payments. The aim of the app is that consumers send a payment request (processed via iDEAL) via a text message in WhatsApp, for example if a group of friends purchased a birthday present together and money has to be paid back to the organizer. The app can be used by anybody in the Netherlands, not only clients from ABN Amro.
iDEAL is covered by all major Dutch consumer banks ands allows consumers to use their bank account for online purchases. In 2017,
iDEAL processed 378 million online payments. When compared to other European countries,
cash money was used the least in the Netherlands.
As of 2018, approximately
11.5 million people used WhatsApp in the Netherlands, making it one of the most popular social media platforms of the country. Roughly
90 percent of Millennials (defined as the age group from 22 to 36 years) indicated they actively make use of the messenger app.