What is sales insight?
Go to ‘Artikelen’ (‘Items’) and then select ‘Mijn artikelen’ (‘My items’). Click on the relevant item and go to ‘Verkoopinzicht’ (‘Sales insight’) in the bar at the top. The graphic on the sales insight page displays your sales over time. It is possible to select several periods. In the table, ‘Mijn verkopen’ (‘My sales’) and ‘Mijn koopblok’ (‘My buy box’) will change according to the period selected. You can decide which period you wish to view and whether you want to see it per day, week or month. This setting will be saved and will also appear on the ‘Conversie analyse’ (‘Conversion analysis’) page.
Overzicht (Overview)
This page is made up of various graphics, each of which gives you an insight into your sales and the related data points.
- Mijn verkopen (My sales)
An overview of the number of units of the item that you have already sold minus the number of cancellations. Any orders that are returned by the customer at a later date will also be included in this - Mijn koopblok (My buy box)
The percentage that your offer had the buy box over this period. Whether you have the buy box depends on the price, delivery time and performance score. In addition, your offer must be shown on the webshop and must meet the following minimum conditions:
1. You have the item in stock.
2. The minimum product information has been entered.
3. Your sales price is below the maximum sales price based on market information. Please note: the assessment grade is one of the service standards for the performance score. - Koopblok (Buy box)
This shows you if you currently have the buy box. - Product positie (Product position)
The position where your item was on bol in the last 14 days. You can see its position within the relevant item categories and its position within relevant search terms. - Vrije voorraad (Available stock)
The current stock level for the item. - Voorraad is op (Out of stock)
This is an estimate of when the item will run out of stock, assuming that you have the buy box. This is based on the sales forecast and current stock levels. As with the sales forecast, this field will only appear if you have sold the item twice or more over the previous 28 days. - Berekening (Calculation)
The ‘Geschatte periode tot voorraad op is’ (‘Estimated period until out of stock’) assumes that you have the buy box. Are you selling the item in both the Netherlands and in Belgium? In that case, it will include the full sales forecast for both countries. Are you selling the item in only one of the two countries? In that case, it will only include the sales forecast for the country in which you are selling it.The formula for the ‘Estimated period until out of stock’ works as follows:Available stock / Expected sales per day (average)** Expected sales per day (average) = sales forecast for NL and/or BE (next 28 days)/28 days.Example
New items in your product range? Start small!
When you’ve been selling via bol for a while, you’ll get better at estimating how often an item is likely to sell. For new items, this can be more difficult because you don’t yet have a sales history for these items. It’s a good idea to start with low stocks so that you don’t unexpectedly end up with a lot of unwanted product.
One useful way of finding out how much interest there is for an item is bol search trends. Are you interested in finding out the search volume and search habits of bol visitors? This tool allows you to see how many bol visitors use a specific search term and what the trend for it is. Want to find out more? Click here.
If you want an immediate overview of products that aren’t yet selling but which customers are searching for, take a look at the list of gaps in the product range. You can find this overview here.
Disappointing sales
As a businessperson, you obviously want to avoid having items in stock for too long. If sales are proving disappointing, this may be because you do not have the buy box, the items are not online or customers don’t find the product range relevant.
There are various things you can do about this:
- Reduce the sales price, since this can help you to get the buy box
- Make sure you have accurate and clear product information and attractive images
- Is your stock in Logistics via bol? In that case, you can arrange to have any poorly-selling stock returned.
- Verkoopprognose (Sales forecast)
This is an estimate of the expected sales of the item on the bol platform. The sales forecast shows the expected customer demand for the item on bol, regardless of which seller has the buy box.
Tests have shown that the sales forecast can help you to estimate future sales on bol. You can use the forecast for purchasing and capacity planning. In the test, partners who actively used the ‘Sales forecast’ and ‘Estimated period until out of stock’ sold 10% more on average. This was because their products were out of stock less often.
The forecast is based on a machine-learning algorithm. This algorithm is continuously improving and increasing the number of factors that it takes into account. This field is updated daily. It currently takes the following factors into account:
- Sales from the past (how often an item has sold in a specific period)
- Product offer history (how long the product has been offered and at what conditions: price, delivery time and performance score)
- Product categories (what type of item it is)
- Calendar information (day of the week, public holidays)
- External factors (such as weather conditions)
- Product promotion (marketing expenditure, how the product is displayed and posting on the website)
* No rights may be derived from the sales forecasts. Bol is in no way liable for damages and/or costs of any kind incurred by the partner in connection with the sales forecasts provided.
Tests have shown that the ‘Estimated period until out of stock’ can prove useful for:
- Adjusting and/or supplementing (Logistics via bol) stock. Do you use Logistics via bol? The screen ‘Lvb voorraad Analyse’ (‘Lvb stock Analysis’) – which you will find under ‘Artikelen’ (‘Items’) in your seller dashboard – gives you more insight into and control over the health of your stock.
- Understanding which items are selling less well. If you know which items are selling less well, this can help you to respond more effectively. You can speed up sales by reducing your sales price, for example, improving the product information or reducing the delivery time.
Any questions?
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