The importance of automation for bol partners
an expert interview with Raymond Scholtens from ChannableAutomation is the key to efficiency and competitive advantage for partners selling via bol.

In this interview...
We spoke with Raymond Scholtens from Channable, Gold integrator within Apps & Services via bol and launching partner of the new sponsored products environment, to discover why automation is so important, who can benefit from it, and how to get started.
Why automate listings, orders, and advertisements?
Automation can take a lot of worries away for partners selling via bol. For example, it prevents issues like incorrect stock levels. When you sell via your own website and via bol, there's a high chance you might accidentally sell an item that was just sold on your own website. This would result in you having to disappoint your customer. Automation ensures that stock levels are always synchronized and that orders from bol end up in your own webshop. This way, you don't have to disappoint customers and you save a lot of time processing orders.
In addition, automation makes it easy to implement new items or price changes without having to make manual adjustments in your bol shop. This improves efficiency, reduces the chance of errors, and makes managing a large number of items and orders much simpler. Automation offers real-time updates of price changes and stock, and helps you respond quickly to market changes.
This also applies to your advertisements. When you advertise via bol, you probably already know that if you want to stay ahead of your competition, you need to constantly improve your strategies and advertising efforts. However, if you sell multiple items, this costs a lot of resources and time. Automation can offer a solution here. With automation, for example, you can easily set up thousands of advertisements based on your item listings, and you can automatically improve advertising campaigns based on performance data.
Who can benefit from automation?
Automation is valuable for every partner, regardless of the product category. It saves time and allows you to focus on other important tasks. Small partners benefit from the time savings, while large partners benefit from scalability. Especially partners with a rapidly changing product range, seasonal items, or variable prices greatly benefit from automation.
What problem do you solve?
Channable simplifies placing items and advertising on marketplaces like bol. It provides a central place for managing item data, orders, and advertisements, reducing the complexity of managing multiple sales channels. The platform improves advertisements and item feeds, making items more discoverable and increasing sales. This solves problems such as unsynchronized stock, placing your entire item inventory on bol at once, and automatically placing new items correctly. Additionally, Channable has a bol Repricer, which ensures you can implement real-time price changes so you always show competitive prices. In summary, Channable is a platform that offers all solutions to successfully sell via bol.
Why start with automation before peak season (holidays)?
The holidays are crucial for e-commerce. By automating now, you ensure your items are easily discoverable and prevent issues with stock and content during peak periods. This reduces workload and ensures satisfied customers. Starting automation before peak periods allows you to resolve any issues in time and be ready for the influx of customers.
What knowledge is needed and how can an agency help you with this?
Basic knowledge of your own product range, sales channels, and marketing strategy is needed. Some technical knowledge is useful, but not strictly necessary as Channable is designed to be user-friendly. An agency can provide strategic advice, help with the initial setup, and ensure smooth integration of Channable with other systems. They often have experience with various industries and can share best practices specific to your sector.
How do you start automating as a partner?
- Research: Understand which tasks take the most time and which processes your customers want to see automated. This is where you'll gain the most by automating.
- Select a Platform: Choose a platform like Channable that suits your needs. Channable is a modular platform, allowing you to choose which processes you want to automate and which you don't.
- Data Preparation: Ensure your item data, stock data, and other relevant information are organized and up-to-date. An integrator can help you set up item data and stock data correctly, but it works more efficiently when your own data is clearly and correctly organized.
- Integration: Link your source system, such as WooCommerce or Shopify, to the automation platform. For most source systems, this is easily done.
- Training: Learn how the platform works with the help of training sessions or manuals. Channacademy by Channable will teach you all the ins and outs of the platform in no time, so you can work even more efficiently!
How do you get the most out of a connection with an integrator like Channable?
Ideally, you work with an integrator who not only helps you improve your data and place your items via bol, but also offers functionalities to sell as successfully as possible via the platform. This includes functionalities that can help you implement effective pricing, synchronize your orders in real-time, support you with Advertising via bol, and also offer possibilities to improve the performance of your ads using analytics and reporting functionalities.
What does automation bring you during peak season (holidays)?
Automation ensures that your items are discoverable during the most important days of the year, and you don't lose time due to incorrect stock and content. This results in efficiency, flexibility, and error reduction during peak periods, which is essential for maximizing sales and customer satisfaction.
How do you measure the success of automation?
- Time Savings: Measure the time previously spent on manual tasks versus the time now saved.
- Error Rate: Compare the number of errors before and after automation.
- buy box time with the Repricer: Measure the percentage of time you own the buy box.
- ROI (Return on Investment): Calculate the savings compared to the investment in the automation system.
Automation offers numerous benefits and is essential for the success of partners selling via bol, especially during peak periods. By starting automation now, you will be ready for the future and can fully focus on growth and customer satisfaction.
