Bol.com: product range grew 42 percent

The biggest online store in the Netherlands and Belgium, Bol.com, saw a growth of 15 million visitors per month on the Dutch website compared to Q3 last year. The Belgian website had 2 million extra visitors. With a steady growth of selling partners on the platform, the product range grew with 42 percent in one year.

Bol.com is the biggest online store in the Netherlands, and it is becoming more and more of a platform. Retailers can become selling partners and sell their products on the website. The company runs a dedicated online shop in the Netherlands and Belgium. It has now published its quarterly PlatformMonitor, a report about consumer behavior and shifts taking place at the platform’s sales partners.

The platform has a total amount of 12.833.087 active customers.

Traffic generated by the websites grew strongly. The Dutch website saw a growth of 15 million visitors per month, and the Belgian website had 2 million extra visitors per month compared with Q3 in 2020. This traffic led to a total amount of active customers of 12.833.087. These are customers that have placed at least one order at Bol.com in the last 365 days.

Revenue share of partners grew

When mortar-and-brick stores had to close due to the pandemic, Bol.com saw its total selling partners grow from 30.616 in April 2020 to 38.808 in September that year. This was a growth of 8.192. In the same time-frame in 2021, the total amount of sellers grew with 2.045 from 45.505 to 47.550. This means that the strong growth of the total number of partners is leveling off.

The ongoing growth of partners on the platform led to a bigger product range. The amount of products for sale grew with 42 percent in one year to a total of 38.201.321 (compared to a total of 26.872.974 in Q3 last year).

Customers are more likely to buy from partners than from Bol.com.

The revenue share of partner sellers versus that of Bol.com itself has grown as well, in both The Netherlands and in Belgium. Compared to the same quarter last year, revenue shares of partners in the Netherlands grew with 4.13 percent to a share of 58.67 percent. Within Belgium, the revenue share of partners grew with 2.21 percent to 59.97 percent. This means that customers are more likely to buy from partners who sell on the platform than from Bol.com itself.