Within a year, the Danish supplier of men’s accessories had launched on five marketplaces in eight countries. For its entry into the marketplace business, Trendhim chose bol, the Dutch market leader. Reason enough to take a look at the best practise of Trendhim’s start at bol.
Trendhim’s start at bol
Just over a year ago, Trendhim, a Danish supplier of men’s accessories, first ventured into the marketplace business by setting up on the Dutch marketplace bol. There were two main reasons for this choice: Firstly, bol is the undisputed market leader in the Netherlands, which made the platform attractive for Trendhim. Secondly, Trendhim’s integrator ChannelEngine is a close partner of bol, which has accelerated the acceptance and onboarding process at bol. In the following months, Zalando in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, Allegro in Poland, Galaxus in Switzerland and Amazon in the UK were added – with Germany and France set to follow soon.
Since Trendhim had no previous experience in the marketplace business and wanted a simple product management system, project manager Heidi Roele initially opted for a slimmed-down range when starting out on bol. The integration went relatively smoothly, with a few hiccups due to the lack of marketplace experience.
Trendhim’s Bestsellers: bags and watches
Meanwhile, the complete range is available with the exception of cosmetics, beard care, items under 20 euros and third-party brands. The main categories are bags, watches, bracelets, rings and chains, along with suit accessories, sunglasses and belts. Bestsellers include a shoulder bag in a range of colors, suit accessories, bracelets and a few watch models. Trendhim generates the most sales at bol with bags and watches.
According to Heidi, demand for Trendhim products at bol is acceptable. “Zalando does better in comparison,” she admits. However, a meeting with the account manager at bol has provided valuable insights. “If we had known this earlier, it would have been an advantage,” she says.
Sponsored Ads drove a surge in sales
At the beginning, Trendhim did not advertise on bol, with only 80 to 100 orders per month. Then Trendhim invested in sponsored ads: the number of orders quickly rose to 600 to 700 per month, and the number of products sold to 700 to 800. This also had an impact on sales: It increased by more than 400%.
Compared to other marketplaces, bol customers return goods less often – possibly also because no return label has to be included by default. They are also more reluctant to click on sponsored ads (2.03% for bol, 2.35% for Zalando), but the conversion rates are higher.
Heidi still sees potential at bol and would like to expand sales further. However, she would like to see more key figures from bol, for example on performance per product category.
Start at bol succeded
What advice would she give to brands and retailers interested in joining bol? Since much of the onboarding and backend at bol is not yet available in English, it’s essential to have someone on the team who speaks both Dutch and French. “Google Translate is not good enough,” Heidi emphasized, “I myself am a native Dutch speaker and also speak French.”
She also recommends organizing the product master data well in advance and ideally keeping it in both languages to make it easier to assign. All in all, she believes that bol is a user-friendly platform, even without the use of an integrator. “We found it a great, accessible entry point into marketplaces.”
If you want to know more about bol, then listen to episode 97 of our podcast “Let’s talk Marketplace”. Alex Ciorapciu, Director International Business at bol, talks about how selling on bol works in practice. Listen to the podcast episode here!