ShoppingTomorrow Interview

Emile Valkestijn is the chairman of the expert group 'Successfully building your brand on marketplaces'. He leads the expert group with Niels Floors from ChannelEngine and Kathinka de Veer from bol. This year, together with 25 experts, they are researching strategies and tactics to build a strong brand on marketplaces and achieve profitable growth. Niels previously gave us an insight into the research. 

• 30 experts are working on a research question
• For bol partners, by bol partners
• The result: a bluepaper full of practical tips and advice

Emile, why do you find it interesting to research marketplaces?

‘Marketplaces are developing rapidly all over the world. Every year there are new opportunities and developments that you, as a brand owner, can use. Or rather, must use, if you want to build a healthy brand and be profitable. This year, we are specifically researching the tactics and strategies you can deploy to be successful on marketplaces. The outcome is a magazine and a bluepaper. I can already recommend all brand owners to read them. In the bluepaper, we discuss practical examples and provide solutions for challenges that almost all brands face.’

Why can't brand owners afford to lag behind on marketplaces anymore?

‘As a brand, you always have to ask yourself where the customer is. Because that's where you want to be too. And customers no longer go directly to a webshop. Someone looking for new shoes often skips Google and goes directly to a marketplace. But the challenge for brand owners is that anyone can sell via marketplaces. If you come up with something fun today, you can offer it on a platform tomorrow. So there is enormous competition. At the same time, customers can't see the forest for the trees anymore. You can only be successful if you truly differentiate your brand and continue to improve.’

But how do you become successful on marketplaces?

‘It all starts with a good foundation. Do you want to win on marketplaces? Then ensure a strong item that matches customer demand on the platform. And make use of all the possibilities that marketplaces now offer. For example, a marketplace can help you reach new target groups. Or to appear on the first page of the platform. In addition, you must continue to improve. That can be quite difficult, because on each platform, improving means something different. Often, entrepreneurs and brand owners are very good at coming up with a cool idea and improving the item itself. It's smart to gather people around you who can help with the things you're less good at. This way, a great collaboration is created where everyone is in their strength. This elevates the whole to a higher level.’

Do you have concrete tips for brand owners to improve on marketplaces?

‘Make sure your idea is distinctive. Think carefully, make a plan, and put a high-quality item on the market. Don't go for cheap and easy. Because that might give you a short burst of success, but in the long run, it won't help. Start with a solid foundation. Look at which items are highly sought after within a certain category, and align your offer with that. Continue this market research and ensure a good price-quality ratio. This way, you steadily ensure a good item. Always create a certain variation of your item that better meets customer demand and what works on the platform. If things go well, you can continue to expand your brand. Expand your product range, offer your items on more channels, and, if you want, start selling in more countries. Your brand will become increasingly relevant to the target group in this way. And it is, of course, important to put energy into the sales layer, but also invest in the upper funnel, your fanbase.

Is this focus on the upper funnel a recent development?

‘We see that marketplaces are offering more and more functionalities to differentiate yourself as a brand from the competition. More and more marketplaces are focusing on retail media to offer additional opportunities to brands. And that is good for brands, because it gives them opportunities to address the customer throughout the entire customer journey. It's great that your item sells well, but it's also nice if you can position your brand to gain more recognition. Of course, marketplaces also benefit from this, because if your brand becomes stronger, it also yields more for the marketplace. It is therefore logical that marketplaces are increasingly focusing on this. For example, they help you to set up campaigns and focus more on that upper funnel. But marketplaces also often offer display campaigns or space for your brand in their newsletters. This way you can target specific target groups very precisely.’

Curious about last year's research? View the bluepapers of 2023.