Online marketplaces like Bol.com are growing in popularity. These platforms are an excellent addition to your existing sales channels. Still, many entrepreneurs hesitate to see them as an asset to their business. As a fulfillment center, we definitely see online marketplaces as added value. Why? Discover it in this blog.
What is an online marketplace?
An online marketplace is, as the name suggests, the digital version of a traditional market. It’s a platform where multiple retailers offer their products or services to a wide audience. On a physical market, sellers usually pay rent for a stand. On an online marketplace, you typically pay a small percentage of your revenue to the platform hosting your products.
There are countless marketplaces today, but let’s look at a few well-known ones: Bol.com, Amazon, Ebay, and Booking.com. These platforms usually don’t hold their own inventory but display products from other sellers and facilitate the transactions. They often support sellers by taking over tasks like marketing, payments, and customer service.
What percentage do I pay to Bol.com?
Let’s focus on Bol.com, the most well-known marketplace in Belgium. Creating a professional account and offering your products is quite easy. Of course, Bol.com charges a commission for selling through their platform. You’ll pay up to €0.99 + 15% of the selling price including VAT. The fixed and variable fee depends on the product category. Check Bol.com’s commission page for more details. If your margins are good, there’s no reason not to sell on such a platform. Just remember to factor in shipping costs when setting your prices.
Is Bol.com Fulfillment Worth It?
You’ll need to handle the additional orders. If your team can’t manage the extra workload, you’ll need to find a solution. It would be a pity to miss out on extra sales! Fulfillment is the go-to solution. A fulfillment center can take over your inventory management. You can choose to outsource your entire logistics, or just the Bol.com orders.
The center manages your stock and handles picking and packing. This reduces the pressure on your warehouse so you can focus on growing your business.
Also, Bol.com enforces strict shipping requirements for their partners. A fulfillment center helps you meet those requirements. As experts in logistics, they make sure your packages are shipped on time and in top condition. If you can’t guarantee that your orders leave the warehouse within 24 hours, a fulfillment center is definitely a good option – even for your non-Bol.com orders.
Bol.com and Webship
Looking for a fulfillment center to process your Bol.com orders? Webship is the place to be. And we go a step further! Together with our Dutch partner Woosa, we developed a direct connection between Bol.com and Webship Online, our inventory management system. Orders from Bol.com are automatically imported into Webship Online – no precious time lost!
You no longer need to constantly check your Bol.com account for new orders.
And there’s more – we also built a connection between your WooCommerce shop and Bol.com. This allows you to push your products from WooCommerce directly to Bol.com. Of course, you can also connect WooCommerce to Webship Online. In short: all your orders come into one system, and you get an extra sales channel effortlessly. Interested? Contact Webship via hallo@webship.be for more information.
