'Our 30-member expert group consists of experts with broad experience in e-commerce at various organisations'
Interview ShoppingTomorrow
At bol, we believe we can do better every day. That is why we like to learn from each other. And the reason we’re connected to ShoppingTomorrow, a network that brings together over 500 e-commerce experts to research the most important trends and developments within e-commerce. Kathinka de Veer, Head of Advertising via bol & Logistics Services Marketing, is one of these experts. On behalf of bol she hosts the expert group ‘Successfully Building Your Brand on Marketplaces’. What is their focus this year? Kathinka tells you all about it.
In short
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30 experts get to work on a research question
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For bol partners, by bol partners
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The result: a bluepaper filled with practical tips and advice
Why is bol participating in ShoppingTormorrow?
‘Within our company, we have an enormous amount of knowledge and expertise concerning online sales and the world of e-commerce. We want to give this knowledge back to the market. Local partnerships are very important to us. What better way to contribute than through a network like ShoppingTomorrow? Besides the expert group of which I am one of the hosts, there are also bollers involved in other expert groups. So we bring in knowledge and insights from the entire organisation, but of course we also get a lot of knowledge back. And we benefit a lot from that.’
‘We want to make our platform more attractive for brands, so that we can offer our customers beautiful brands and more inspiration during their shopping experience. Through this expert group, we hear directly from brands what their needs are and what they are up against. That is super interesting and valuable.’
What does the expert group you host entail?
‘I fulfil the hosting role together with Niels Floor, VP of Strategic Development at ChannelEngine. In addition, Emile Valkestijn of 10XCREW chairs the expert group. Together, we build a team of experts, determine the research question and choose the overall approach to answer the research question. By the way, we also have good ties with these companies; both are “Gold partners” in bol’s network of Apps & Services. So, the 3 of us take the lead and at the same time we contribute by sharing our knowledge as 1 of the experts in the group.
Furthermore, the 30-member expert group consists of experts with broad experience in e-commerce at various organisations. Very valuable, because they have practical experience and are part of our target group. This allows us to work pragmatically. We create tactics and strategies with the experts and test them immediately with the end users.’
Can you tell us more about the research question?
‘Sure! The research question this year is: ‘What strategies and tactics can be applied to build a strong brand and achieve profitable growth on marketplaces? With this research question, we are elaborating on the research question of the 3 previous years. Last year, we used 3 cases to investigate how to successfully build a brand on marketplaces. We received cases from Bolius, BSH Netherlands and Eden Appliances and analysed them with the expert group. We published the results in a bluepaper. We then came to the conclusion that brands currently consider 3 trends when successfully building a brand. This year, we are taking a slightly more pragmatic approach and want to make a translation to concrete strategies and tactics.’
How do you approach it?
‘Together with the expert group, we will meet up 9 times during the research year to carry out the research and create a bluepaper. This bluepaper will be launched on 10 October. We deliberately chose to elaborate on last year’s research and make it more concrete. This way, we deliver tools for people to actually work with.
Where do you stand now?
‘On 14 March, we had a first kick-off meeting with all the expert groups. So we have only just started! There was a lot of energy to get started right away. We want to help brands get started building their brand on marketplaces. Because there are multiple brand owners in our expert group, the research could move rapidly. In this research, we focus not only on bol but on the overall marketplaces landscape.’
About Kathinka van Veer
- Boller since mid-February 2019
- Lives in Schoten (Belgium)
- Head of Avb & Lsvb Marketing: responsible for marketing our b2b propositions
- Best thing about the job: solving complex puzzles together with colleagues – the bol ‘can do’ mentality.