Convenience for the partner

As a partner of bol, you are always looking for the best selling price. A competitive selling price ultimately leads to more visitors and higher conversion. There are various ways to determine a competitive selling price. For example, consider relevant market prices and logical second-hand prices. Constantly monitoring the market and all your competitors' prices (including associated fluctuations) is a very time-consuming task. And you simply don't have the time or desire for that. Fortunately, PriceTweakers offers various services that help you automate and improve your pricing strategy. They offer price monitoring, dynamic pricing, MAP monitoring, and repricers. 

We spoke about this last service with Ashley Smit, Office Manager at PriceTweakers. In her role as Office Manager, Smit is responsible for the daily operations of the company, and from her home in Curaçao, she is heavily involved in (after)sales. One of the things she sells is the bol repricer. Smit: “On bol, it's made very easy for customers to compare prices. A repricer is then a good tool to ensure you always have the best price.”

What is a repricer?

A repricer is an online tool that automatically adjusts your selling prices based on market developments. It compares your prices and availability with those of competitors and adjusts them according to your predefined strategy, for example, to always be just below the lowest price or – in the case of bol partners – to get the buy box. This way, you remain competitive without constantly changing prices manually. You determine minimum and maximum prices yourself, so your margin remains protected. In addition, the repricer uses an analytics tool that monitors the number of views and sales. The repricer works continuously in the background and saves you time that you can then spend on entering new markets, providing extra service, or attracting new customers.

The bol repricer

This brings us to the bol repricer. The bol repricer is a repricer tool that PriceTweakers specifically developed for bol. “It started with a bol partner who contacted us and wanted more than what we could offer at the time. At that time, we could include bol in the monitoring, but then you would only get the cheapest provider. Other factors, such as getting the buy box, were not a factor at that time. After several discussions with bol, that changed, and the bol repricer became a reality,” says Smit.

“The special thing about the bol repricer,” says Smit, “is that you can set various bol-specific parameters. For example, you can set it so that if you have the buy box, your price increases slightly every day. But you can also set thresholds where you play with fixed amounts or percentages to see what changes. Additionally, you can, for example, exclude other parties who advertise with the same items as you, or add them for an even more complete picture of your competition. Of course, it is also possible to determine a strategy per item or product category; for example, you might have a different strategy for your bestsellers than for your other items.”

The only thing Smit warns about is that once you've adjusted a price, for example, to get the buy box, you can't change it back with a single click if you suddenly want something else. Therefore, she advises making good use of the 2-week trial period to get a clear idea of what the tool can and cannot do. The things you test during this period are only visible on PriceTweakers and are not implemented on bol. Safe and easy!

The buy box

A problem that all partners on bol experience is that customers often only look at the first block of items: the buy box. As a partner, you can get the buy box when you have the best offer in terms of price, delivery promise, and quality, and a repricer offers a solution here because now you no longer have to worry about whether you have the best price. You do.

But what is the best way to use a repricer? “That's difficult,” Smit states, “because it depends on the partner's strategy.” Fortunately, the strategy of most bol partners is to get the buy box, and the repricer is perfect for that.

The golden tip

We were curious about which pricing strategies Smit considers successful. “Within the bol repricer, the most successful strategy is to get the buy box,” she confides. “That’s, of course, why we developed it and what most demand is for.” bol partners also often ask PriceTweakers for advice on determining their pricing strategy. Smit indicates that it is explicitly not the role of a repricer to determine a pricing strategy. The partner determines the strategy themselves; PriceTweakers only ensures that the strategy is executed well.

Do you want to know more about PriceTweakers and how they can further help you with your pricing strategy? Then contact them for a free 2-week trial period.