Belgium shopping platform Bol.com invests in Wallonia and Brussels with the launch of a French-language website
Belgian-Dutch shopping platform bol.com has launched its French-language website. For example, the Ahold Delhaize subsidiary is now also switching up a gear in French-speaking Belgium.
Via the website, Walloons and French-speaking inhabitants of Brussels have full access in their own language to a range of millions of articles: from electronics and household products to luxury products such as perfumes. The range on bol.com is offered by local Belgian entrepreneurs, among others, who are already satisfied with the launch. This also applies to the Walloon SME Doomoo, a seller of baby products.
Bol.com has been active in Flanders since 2010, and that has turned out to be a real success story. Millions of Flemish people now know their way easily to the online shopping platform.
Boukje Taphoorn, Marketing Director, bol.com: “A logical next step is therefore to make our extensive online store range easily available to French-speaking Belgians as well. In 2020 we already launched a French-language app. That has loosened up a lot. One in three French-speaking Belgians now knows us and the app has already been downloaded more than 200,000 times. Nevertheless, we see that at the moment about 50 percent of our French-speaking customers mainly surf to the Dutch-language website. That's why we've decided to go the extra mile for the launch of the fully French-language website, so that everyone can now shop in their own language. In this way we also want to make everyday life easier for our French-speaking customers.”
An analysis of the purchases shows that at bol.com French speakers are mainly looking for electronics, home, garden and do-it-yourself items and luxury products such as perfume. This is in line with the demand in Flanders.
Local anchoring
It does not stop at the launch of a completely French-language website, however. The shopping platform also wants to look for more local Walloon and Brussels sales partners to offer their products via bol.com.
Taphoorn: “Acting locally is therefore very high on our agenda. We believe that Belgian and Dutch companies are stronger together. Moreover, acting locally regularly also means acting more sustainably and climate-friendly. Also in 2021 we have seen that online purchases have increased further, partly driven by the consequences of the covid pandemic. This has also led to more cooperation with local, independent entrepreneurs in the Benelux. While about 20,000 sales partners were active on bol.com two years ago, today there are already 47,000. At the end of last year, they accounted for 60 percent of sales on our platform. So acting locally certainly pays off, not only for us, but especially for them.”
In addition, Bol.com is also working on physical collection points in Wallonia and Brussels. For example, customers not only receive their parcels delivered to their home, but can also pick them up in Delhaize supermarkets, for example.
The Walloon SME Doomoo, which sells baby products, is affiliated with bol.com and is already satisfied with the launch.
Oriane Grégoire, Digital Communication Manager, Doomoo: “All our collections are now available online at any time. We initially joined them to be able to reach the Dutch market, but the fact that French-speaking customers can now find us more easily is of course a bonus. We are present on many e-commerce platforms because it is important to our business strategy. But at bol.com we get a lot of freedom in the way we present our products and we can determine the price ourselves. Moreover, the contact is also very smooth: we always receive an answer to our questions within two hours.”
