Bol.com marketplace have announced their plans to launch in Antwerp, Belgium in a bid to promote B2B cross-border trading.
The online marketplace, which is based in the Netherlands say they’re aiming to open an office this spring in Belgium to help sellers establish themselves in new markets.
Bol.com already boasts 2k Belgian sellers on their platform, and the move will give sellers more collaborative “opportunities,” say marketplace, and help to increase their margin.
The Antwerp branch is expected to open in May, with the specific location yet to be determined. Bol.com plans to hire experts such as market managers, partner advisors and partner specialists and is listing current vacancies on banen.bol.com.
“At bol.com, 2 million Belgian consumers are now shopping with us, and we want to serve them as well as possible. We like to do that together with local players because we believe that cooperation is the key to satisfied customers. There are already dozens of Belgians working at bol.com, and for this location, we are looking for more colleagues. We think it is important to share knowledge and learn from each other. Together we form a relevant store for millions of customers in Belgium and the Netherlands who also shop at our partners.”
-Sacha Buyck, manager of Bol.com, Belgium
Merchants can also take advantage of Bol.com’s fulfilment network, which allows sellers to stock goods in the marketplace’s distribution centre and offer a range of delivery options.
Some 50% of goods sold on Bol.com come from Dutch and Belgian partners, with this share is expected to increase.
What is Bol.com marketplace?
Bol.com is an online marketplace based in the Netherlands. They started as an online bookshop in 1999 and is currently the biggest marketplace for a wide range of products in the Netherlands. The marketplace boasts more than 9m consumers, with 17m items in more than 20 product categories from more than 20k Dutch and Belgian retailers.
How to sell on Bol.com?
Merchants need to register as a business account on Bol.com.
While the marketplace welcomes all merchants to join them, there’re requirements that should be met before creating a business account and being able to sell goods via bol.com. The marketplace requires businesses to be registered in the Netherlands or Belgium and possess a registration at the Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel (NL) of het Handelsregister (BE). Therefore, German and French sellers can’t sell on the marketplace, unless registered in the Netherlands or Belgium.
Once merchants create a seller account, they should also consider the below requirements:
- Do your products fit any of the existing categories that bol.com offers?
- Do your products have an EAN (GTIN) or ISBN number?
- Is it possible to deliver orders within 1 – 8 working days?
- Is it possible for your customers to return a product within 14 days, should they desire this?
- Are you able to answer questions of customers within 24 hours?
- Do you meet the service levels that bol.com requires?
