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EspañolStrategic expansion onto Bol: Tapping into the Dutch market's potential
The Client
Morele is a dynamic, rapidly growing company specialising in consumer electronics, IT hardware, and home appliances. They also operate their own successful marketplace, allowing third-party sellers to offer products directly on their platform and significantly expanding the catalogue available to their customers.
Beyond electronics, Morele strongly focuses on promoting their in-house brands, such as ZIPRO, SENSE7, and Blackwheels. Our partnership initially began with launching and scaling these product lines on Kaufland.de. Following the success of that campaign, the company decided to expand our collaboration to include the Dutch platform, Bol.com.
The Challenge
During our strategy sessions, Morele’s Marketplace Manager outlined the key hurdles they were facing in their cross-border expansion:
- Selecting the right marketplace: The client needed to determine the most viable platform for their next move. Analysing market dynamics, the competitive landscape, and local consumer expectations was a crucial first step in deciding to launch on Bol.
- Bridging the knowledge gap: While Morele had a team of seasoned experts handling Amazon and other channels, they lacked hands-on experience with Bol’s unique ecosystem and search algorithms.
- Seamless platform integration: Adapting their existing sales infrastructure to Bol required synchronising processes, managing live listings, and keeping inventory levels strictly up to date.
- Navigating local regulations: Expanding into the Netherlands meant getting up to speed with regional e-commerce laws, tax regulations, returns policies, and local delivery standards.
- Logistics and fulfilment: Shipping cross-border required the client to streamline their warehouse operations and partner with the right couriers to ensure fast, cost-effective delivery to Dutch consumers.
The Solution
Analysis and objectives
When we took over the account, we immediately identified several core objectives we needed to tackle together:
Expanding the product catalogue: Only a fraction of the inventory was live when we started.
Creating multi-variation listings: Grouping products to make it easier for buyers to select their preferred size or colour.
Launching comprehensive ad campaigns: A vital step to maximise our reach and get in front of high-intent shoppers.
Protecting Account Health: The account was undergoing verification by Bol. It was critical to maintain flawless dispatch rates and stellar customer service metrics to keep the account in good standing.
Expanding the product portfolio
Our first priority was auditing existing listings and adding new products to the catalogue. With the peak trading season fast approaching, speed was of the essence. We focused heavily on populating every single product specification field accurately. This is critical for two reasons:
The customer gets the precise, granular details they need to make an informed purchase.
Bol’s algorithm heavily favours well-optimised, data-rich listings, which ultimately makes our advertising spend much more efficient.
Creating variations
Next, we grouped the newly added products into parent-child variations. Thanks to the assets provided by our partner and the intuitive nature of the platform, we streamlined this process quickly.
It is worth noting just how essential multi-variation listings are for driving high sales volumes. By presenting customers with more choices on a single product page, we keep them engaged with our storefront longer, significantly boosting the likelihood of conversion.
Advertising
Strategy
The foundational decision we made with the client was to focus our marketing budget entirely on their in-house brands. Leveraging historical data from other marketplaces, we knew that to succeed ahead of Q4, we needed to push fitness and home workout gear. Our analysis showed that building a robust ad presence before the festive period would lay the groundwork for strong Q1 results, allowing us to capitalise on the traditional ‘New Year’s resolution’ boom.
Execution
We kicked off by structuring separate campaigns for specific product categories. Initially, we ran automated campaigns, allowing us to optimise for a target ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales) whilst managing the daily budget. In the second phase, we rolled out manual campaigns targeting the highest-converting keywords for each product group. We sourced this data directly from our initial automated campaigns and Bol’s own search term reports.
The Results
As soon as we implemented our strategy and took the reins in 2024, the account experienced an immediate uplift. Month on month, we saw consistent growth in both order volume and overall revenue. Between October and December, sales surged by an impressive 300%.
Heading into the new year, we faced a natural shift in consumer behaviour. Following strong sales in the first half of January, momentum slowed as the demand for indoor fitness equipment tapered off. We proactively pivoted in February by launching new seasonal products, such as garden trampolines and inline skates. Backed by highly targeted marketing campaigns, we returned to robust month-on-month growth by March.
Future roadmap
- Expanding sales into the Belgian market.
- Introducing fresh seasonal product lines to the catalogue.
- Optimising current ad campaigns to maximise ROI and profitability.
- Building new campaigns for emerging product categories.
- Enhancing listing conversion rates through rich media, including infographics.
- Scaling operations on Kaufland.de, where we continue to manage a broad spectrum of activities.
The journey continues...
Our partnership with Morele is ongoing. We continuously adapt and optimise every aspect of their sales strategy to stay ahead of the ever-changing marketplace landscape.
We are proud to drive Morele’s ongoing international success and look forward to breaking new records together.
Would you like to work with us to achieve similar results?
Let's talk about growing your sales across marketplaces!
