The bol.com marketplace relies on cooperation with its partners

In the Global DIY-Network Sacha Buyck presented the online marketplace bol.com, for which he works as head of partner management. This platform, founded 20 years ago as a mail order company for books, operates purely locally in the Netherlands and Belgium and is currently not looking to expand into neighbouring countries such as Germany or France. "We are really a Benelux platform," Buyck told retail expert and presenter Ken Hughes. "We are a local player." According to him, bol.com is the market leader in the Netherlands and Belgium.

As another explicit differentiation from the big players such as Amazon or Alibaba, Buyck emphasised the closed partnership with both the end-customers and the retailers who use the platform. He cited "humanising a parquet place" and "working together" as guidelines. "You have to interact to be good," Buyck said.

The DIY category is one of bol.com's growth areas. After all, the DIY market in the Benelux area is expected to grow by 20 percent from 2020 to 2025 to a volume of EUR 6.5 bn. While the online share of the sector's turnover is only 15 per cent for paints, it is 60 per cent in the garden sector, mainly driven by garden tools. The best-selling products in the DIY category at bol.com are power tools, but also garden equipment or barbecues. "We are very good at that," said Sacha Buyck.