Third-party sellers account for 62% of bol.com’s Dutch sales

According to foreign media reports, at the end of the first quarter, third-party sellers accounted for 62% of bol.com's sales in the Netherlands, an increase of 17% year-on-year. The role of bol.com is undergoing fundamental changes.

This change became clear in the recent release of e-commerce platform Monitor (PDF), the latest data for the first quarter compared to last year.

The survey shows that most of bol.com's sales partners complete their tasks through bol.com. More than 13,000 merchants have integrated their sales systems with bol.com, the largest e-commerce platform in the Netherlands. This allows them to manage all their sales from a central location. For the remaining 32,000 sellers, it is still a separate process.

“The monthly growth is steady and in sync with the number of new partners each month,” bol.com said, suggesting there is no increase in automation among partners.

However, it is clear that in addition to being a sales platform, bol.com is also considered an advertising platform. In December, 26% of sellers took advantage of the opportunities that retail media offered them.

A term for an advertising system embedded on bol.com, e.g. sponsored screenings between search results. The average usage of “advertise with bol.com” was about 24% over the past 6 months.

In one year, the product range of bol.com has increased by 42%. It reached 35.3 million in January. This growth is due to the strong growth in the number of sellers offering products on the platform.

But the fast-growing bol.com also has its problems. The products of third-party sellers on the platform have been questioned by some consumers, and some delivery issues have also been complained about.

One consumer said: "The problem of bad experiences with selling partners will only increase in the future. Bol.com is full of AliExpress stuff. Unfortunately, direct sellers are now entering the selling field as well (including Amazon). As long as many people continue to buy, it will remain attractive for Bol.com and selling partners. I personally only look at products that are offered by Bol.com itself, or they must come from reliable stores such as Petsplace."

Other consumers said to avoid using "partner delivery" products on bol.com. "In my opinion, countless fake reviews (posted by the partners themselves), offering 3x reversed AliExpress products, and some delivery issues are not good for the once solid image of bol.com."

bol.com

Seller

Netherlands