Bol.com, an online retailer that offers a marketplace option to third party (3P) sellers, has been ranked as the most popular ecommerce website in the Netherlands. The list is compiled by the retail magazine Twinkle.
Bol once again trumped Zalando and Coolblue to take the top spot, with Dutch shoppers spending €1.2 billion with the company in 2017. That’s up from €950 million in the previous year. And it is interesting to note to note how far down the list Amazon comes in at. It’s seventh and is estimated to have enjoyed a mere €230,000,000 in sales. It’s a useful reminder that Amazon isn’t always the titan in international markets and it can lag behind local brands, especially if Amazon doesn’t have a dedicated localised website in-country.
Bol.com is a the biggest name in online retailer in the Netherlands and also Belgium, enjoying near ubiquity in terms of brand recognition. And from a merchant perspective, there are a number of opportunities. As we explored in our Marketplaces 2018 series earlier in the year.
They say that they enjoy custom from 7 million customers selling over 15 million products. Most of the products are brand new but secondhand sales are also possible. The marketplace runs on a catalogue basis, so to start listing you’ll need to know your GTINs. You can also quite easily utilise Bol.com’s own distribution network and click & collect facilities in the Netherlands to help with fulfilment. Bol.com handles all payments and disburses them to sellers. Quite a number of multi-channel marketplace providers already serve Bol.com, so switching on this marketplace via them (and hopefully tapping into their expertise too) is an easy way to start selling.
One of the most attractive aspects of selling online in the Netherlands, is the very high level of English spoken by the native population. That makes optimising listings and dealing with customer support queries much less arduous.
