Dutch on-line market Bol has had a very good yr: gross sales elevated 8.7 p.c, reaching 3.1 billion euros. It additionally earned extra from its personal platform gross sales than all gross sales companions collectively, figures present. Bol appears to turn into extra like a web based retailer once more, as a substitute of a platform.
Bol is a web based market from the Netherlands. It began out as a web based retailer promoting books, however shortly grew to turn into a web based division retailer. It additionally opened up its market and mentioned that it wished to take a step again as a vendor, and concentrate on its associate sellers.
Report of 5.9 billion euros in web shopper gross sales
Nonetheless, that appears to have modified. In 2023, analysis already indicated that gross sales from Bol’s personal manufacturers made up 64 p.c of the platform’s complete turnover. In that very same yr, the platform’s commerce quantity elevated 4.9 p.c.
In 2024, Bol’s commerce quantity elevated 4.1%
The expansion in 2024 got here fairly near that, with 4.1 p.c. The corporate reached a document of 5.9 billion euros in web shopper on-line gross sales, which incorporates associate gross sales.
Bol grows sooner than companions
Nonetheless, Bol’s turnover (web gross sales) grew so much sooner than its buying and selling quantity in 2024: as talked about, by 8.7 p.c to three.1 billion euros. This means that Bol itself grew sooner than its gross sales companions.
Whereas two years in the past, third-party sellers accounted for about two-thirds of Bol’s buying and selling quantity (66 per cent in Q2 2023), that’s now solely barely half. That is brought on by the gross sales of the corporate’s personal manufacturers, which make up most of Bol’s turnover. The corporate can also be more and more reserving increasingly more income from providers for companions, like promoting and logistics.
Bol’s quantity of gross sales companions has decreased to 47,000 by the top of 2024
Bol’s dad or mum firm, Ahold Delhaize, didn’t share particular income figures for these providers in its report. Bol’s quantity of gross sales companions has fallen in recent times: from virtually 52,000 in mid-2023, to 47,000 by the top of 2024. Throughout that interval, the web platform expanded its promoting potentialities for companions.
Sooner progress than Dutch ecommerce market
With its personal operations, Bol isn’t solely rising sooner than the companions on its platform, but additionally sooner than the market. Final week, Dutch Statistics reported progress of slightly below 6 p.c for on-line shopper spending within the Netherlands final yr. PostNL, of which Bol is the biggest buyer, just lately revealed that enormous on-line shops are benefiting essentially the most from the brand new progress section in Dutch ecommerce.
Excessive profitability
Bol hyperlinks the excessive gross sales figures to a revenue of 185 million euros (underlying EBITDA) in 2024, which is 22 p.c greater than within the earlier yr. The revenue progress is partly attributable to prime gross sales within the final quarter (plus 11 p.c) and a document variety of app customers.
‘The corporate’s elevated profibility is said to double-digit income progress in promoting’
The corporate’s CFO Jolanda Poots-Bijl additionally associated the elevated profitability to ‘double-digit income progress in promoting and a tireless concentrate on value administration’.
IPO and a brand new distribution heart
After a profitable yr, speculations a few doable IPO will probably revive. Moreover, the corporate appears prepared to begin building of a brand new distribution heart in Lelystad, within the Netherlands. This undertaking was beforehand postponed due to disappointing outcomes.