Interview Oscar Hundman

After years of unprecedented growth, much has changed in the Dutch and Belgian e-commerce sector in recent years. International competition and the pressure of changing laws and regulations demand a lot from e-commerce companies, and thus also from bol.

How are you doing?

bol is doing well, but I also have to be realistic. Due to economic uncertainty, the changing competitive landscape, and evolving laws and regulations, being successful in e-commerce is more challenging than a few years ago. That’s why I’m extra pleased that we focus on the Dutch and Belgian consumer market. We understand and know our customers and partners well, which allows us to easily respond to changes. This is also necessary, as customers expect to find a wide, unique, and high-quality product range with us. Additionally, our customers value our reliable service. We work hard every day to deliver on that promise and to remain a safe and reliable platform.

Until a few years ago, the Dutch and Belgian e-commerce market grew rapidly, and mainly local players were active, providing ample room for everyone to grow. Now, we are in a completely different situation. Due to the arrival of international platforms and declining market growth, competition has been increasing for years. These are players with deep pockets for marketing to promote their product range.

Let me start by saying that we welcome European laws and regulations. This has become even more important with the arrival of international platforms, as it protects both customers and partners, among other things, against unsafe and faulty product ranges. At the same time, the pressure from these laws and regulations will only increase in the coming years in terms of sustainability, finance, consumer law, and privacy. We, and our partners, experience this regulatory burden.

Bol has included the differences between bol as a seller and its partners on the platform in the general terms and conditions. Why is that?

That's because 25 years ago, we started as a webshop and then transformed into a platform with partners. Differences have emerged during this transformation. Some differences we cannot resolve because they relate to how we are organized: as a platform where bol is also a seller. We can resolve some differences, and we have adjusted them accordingly. Where we can adjust even more differences, we will do so. An example of this is Select Deals; these are offers for customers with a Select subscription. We will make these deals available to partners in 2025.

Because that ensures we remain competitive as a selling platform in the Netherlands and Belgium. Customers expect to find an increasingly wide product range with us, at a good price. Moreover, they often want it delivered the next day. It's not easy to meet this for all our product range. bol can do this by being active on our platform itself. To give an example: if you say you are a baby shop, you also need to have diapers on offer that parents can use the next day.

We want to keep adding more unique and high-quality product range, because that's what customers need. We prefer to do that with the promise that it's ordered today and delivered tomorrow at a competitive price. Customers choose bol because of the reliability of our service and offerings. We will continue to improve that, for both partners and customers, which benefits the quality of our platform. With this, we are building the best possible customer and partner experience, because that's what it's all about for me. For us, no day has been the same for the past 25 years, so I expect that with the adjustments we are making, we will remain the shop for everyone in the coming years.