Bol, the largest online sales platform in the Netherlands, is allowing sellers from outside the European Union to join for the first time. This year, the first 100 non-EU sellers are expected to join. The company emphasizes strict quality control for offerings from countries such as China. Products must be stocked within Europe.
Unlike in the five largest ecommerce markets in Europe, ‘SME-ally’ Amazon is not the market leader in the Netherlands and Belgium. Bol has held the leading position in both countries for years, with a trading volume of 5.9 billion euros, revenue of 3.1 billion euros, and a profit (underlying EBITDA) of 185 million euros. That said, Amazon is slowly catching up.
Third-party sales
Following the example of the American ecommerce giant, bol also opened its doors to external sales partners in 2011. The number of partners from the Netherlands and Belgium – and later from other European countries – grew to over 50,000. At its peak, around two-thirds of bol’s trading volume came from third-party sales. In recent years, that share has declined to around half, and the number of partners has also slightly decreased. Like Amazon, bol offers services in areas such as logistics and advertising.
Competition from China
Just like Amazon, Bol is facing growing international competition, especially from China. To counter this, the market leader is now opening its platform to sellers from outside the EU. “We are doing very well”, said bol’s ecommerce director Oscar Hundman in Dutch newspaper NRC.
‘We are doing very well’
“If we look purely at ourselves, we are not yet seeing major effects from the growth of foreign competitors. But of course we can see the market changing, and we want to be part of that.”
Hundman further commented on the broader opening of the platform: “We see that consumer needs are changing. People are increasingly aware that there are great products available all over the world. We want to respond to that and we want to make sure consumers have no reason to shop elsewhere. Especially not on platforms where low-quality goods are being sold.”
Assortment expansion
Bol does not aim to suddenly add a large number of new products or sellers, says Hundman. Rather, the platform wants to expand its assortment with items not yet available on the site. Bol is paying close attention to the quality of both the sellers and the products, which must be stored in Europe. “For us, quality is not a promise but a requirement. That is why we can not just throw the platform open wide right now.”
‘Quality is not a promise, but a requirement’
According to Hundman, opening up to high-quality partners from outside the EU will help bol “remain as locally relevant as possible for consumers. As long as customers keep coming to us to shop, we can keep those much larger competitors at bay.”
