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Amazon takes up arms against Bol.com in Belgian e-commerce arena

by

28 July 2022

10:28

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Amazon is working on a Belgian version of its web store. The American e-commerce giant confirmed this on Thursday. Amazon.com.be will be launched in ‘the coming months’. Bol.com is preparing for a competition.

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Belgians will get their own version of the Amazon web store in a few months. Since 2003, Belgian customers have been able to contact the French webshop Amazon.fr, since 2016 the German Amazon.de can also be consulted in Dutch and in 2020 Amazon.nl went online with our northern neighbors. The first Belgian order was even placed in June 2002. ‘Millions of Belgian customers have been shopping in Amazon webshops all over the world for years,’ says the company.

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By also launching its own platform in Belgium, Amazon wants to ‘offer great added value with a local shop’, says Eva Faict, who will lead the Belgian webshop. The Belgian was previously involved in the launch of the Turkish and Dutch versions.

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We are confident that customers will find us. So far they have even been able to find us across the border.

Eva Fact

Country manager Amazon Belgium

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The Belgian Amazon store will be located under the domain name amazon.com.be. The more logical amazon.be has been in the hands of the insurer Baloise for years. Amazon does not want to say whether negotiations have taken place between the two parties. ‘We believe that amazon.com.be is a fantastic domain name’, says Faict. ‘We are confident that customers will find us. So far they have even been able to find us across the border.’

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Competition

In Wallonia, Amazon is already an established name in the e-commerce market with its French website. In Flanders Amazon has to compete against the Dutch web stores Bol.com and Coolblue. ‘The biggest challenge is to become a habit in the daily life of Belgians,’ says Els Breugelmans, e-commerce expert at KU Leuven. ‘After all these years, he is used to surfing to Bol.com if he needs anything.’

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According to Breugelmans, Bol.com is so present in our daily lives, thanks to the parent company Ahold Delhaize. ‘Many Delhaize and Albert Heijn supermarkets have collection points from Bol.com. A customer still prefers home delivery, but sees that blue sphere appear every time he visits the supermarket. Amazon doesn’t have that trump card.’

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Subscription

In the Netherlands, where Bol.com is also strong, two years after the launch of Amazon.nl, the surprise is not forthcoming for the time being, although the platform is slowly gaining market share. Yet it still has to give Bol.com first priority. In the extremely busy Black Friday week in November, Bol.com served 17.3 percent of the market, while Amazon.nl had to make do with 11.9 percent.

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The biggest challenge for Amazon – just like Bol.com – is to become a habit in the daily life of Belgians.

Els Breugelmans

E-commerce expert KU Leuven

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Kenny Van Paesschen estimates Amazon’s chances better. With his company ShopWeDo, which assists webshops logistics, he works together with both Amazon and Bol.com. ‘Ultimately, you only convince a customer with two things: a wide range and low prices. As an international player, Amazon is stronger there: it has a network of suppliers all over Europe and works on a much larger scale, which pushes prices down.’

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Amazon also has a convincing means of retaining customers. With its Prime formula, a customer pays an annual fee for a range of benefits, such as faster and standard free delivery. ‘Research shows that something like this works: those who pay a subscription are more inclined to make all purchases through that service,’ says Breugelmans. Bol.com has also understood this and has a similar benefit formula, Select, which became 20 percent more expensive at the beginning of this month.

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Traders

The Amazon web store will be online ‘in a few months’ time. There is no more concrete information about the launch and the offer for the time being. Amazon is, however, looking for Belgian SMEs who want to offer their products on the web store. That too will be a task for the American giant: getting to know the Belgian customer. Bol.com has a strong streak for that again.

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Ultimately, you only convince a customer with two things: a large selection and low prices. As an international player, Amazon is stronger there.

Kenny Van Paesschen

Ecommerce Entrepreneur

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More than 1,000 Belgian SMEs already sell through one or more of Amazon’s 21 foreign web shops. The arrival of Amazon is positive for Belgian merchants who sell online, says Van Paesschen. ‘It comes down to an additional marketplace, a new sales channel with many potential customers. For those who choose to sell only through their own webshop and not to work together with such a platform, it is an extra competitor, and not the least.’

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As a trader, Van Paesschen has experience with both Amazon and Bol.com. ‘In many things they are exactly the same. Both take a commission of 10 to 15 percent on every sale and with both the customer never becomes ‘your customer’: everything goes through the platform.’ And the requirements to be allowed to sell there? ‘Performance is important for both: if you don’t keep the promise of fast delivery, you will fall back in the search results for both.’

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Van Paesschen also finds it slightly easier as a trader to sell via Amazon. ‘As an external seller you can charge extra costs, which is not allowed at Bol.com. De facto, as a trader, you always have to pay for the shipping costs yourself. Almost every trader takes that into account in his margins, but that means higher prices.’

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Bol.com has the proximity for that. ‘As a local player, it is extremely accessible. If you as a trader have questions, you will receive immediate support. At Amazon you end up in the international network and it easily takes months to get answers.’

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Stockroom

Amazon had already announced in February that it would its first Belgian delivery center opens in Antwerp, where parcels will be processed from sorting centers in neighboring countries. That would open in the fall. Amazon will not deliver the packages itself. To that end, it continues to work with its independent delivery partners, such as Bpost.

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