Amazon is looking to expand the range of products it sells in the Netherlands on Amazon.nl. Companies who want to sell their products through the platform can register with the American web giant from Wednesday, NU.nl reports.
Currently, Amazon.nl sells only books. But the company intends to expand its offer to "millions of products" through the course of the year, thereby explicitly competing with the Dutch Bol.com.
Netherlands online store Bol.com wants to move Black Friday to a week earlier so that it does not clash with Sinterklaas. Currently peak crowds on Black Friday can have a chain effect resulting in gifts being delivered too late for Pakjesavond - the night Sinterklaas delivers his gifts on December 5th, general manager Huub Vermeulen said to Trouw.
Bol.com is investing in sustainability. On Wednesday the largest online store in the Netherlands launched a separate page for only sustainable items. And Bol.com aims to reduce the CO2 emissions to zero within five years, general manager Huub Vermeulen said to AD.
More and more Dutch are buying their groceries and tools for home projects online. Web stores like Albert Heijn, Jumbo and Picnic are seeing their turnover grow with double digits every year, and DIY stores are also showing impressive growth, according to the Twinkle 100, a ranking of the 100 most popular online sellers based on turnover, NOS reports.
By 2025 the Dutch market for the online sale of non-food items will be dominated by one or two platforms, like Amazon, Alibaba or bol.com, ING's economic office said on Wednesday. By that year 35 to 40 percent of all online sales will go through these platforms, the bank expects, NU.nl reports.
While online sales in the Netherlands are still fragmented, this will change in the near future. "The Netherlands is on the verge of a new battle in online retail, now that international platforms are approaching our country", said Dirk Mulder, sector banker for ING Trade & Retail.
Online store Bol.com stopped selling laughing gas cylinders, meant to be use for whipped cream sprayers. The canisters are increasingly used in combination with balloons or N2O crackers as drugs, and Bol.com therefore finds it irresponsible to keep selling them, a spokesperson confirmed to NH Nieuws.
Only one day since Pakjesavond and online market place Marktplaats is already flooded with unwanted Sinterklaas gifts. This year Sinterklaas most often misjudged his custom's desires when it came to navigation systems, car chargers for smartphones and underwear and lingerie, RTL Nieuws reports.
The site also saw a massive increase in offers to sell Dutch-language CDs, up 28 percent. The offer of travel guides also increased significantly, by 19 percent. And like previous years, many people also listed hats, scarves, gloves and DVDs for sale.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday turned out to be very busy days for Dutch online stores, with Bol.com, Coolblue and Mediamarkt all reporting record breaking numbers in visitors and sales. PostNL warns that there may be some delay in delivering packages.
"Over the past days there were many extra online orders. We are delivering most packages today. For a small part of the packages, we expect a delay. We will deliver those packages tomorrow", the Dutch postal service wrote on its site on Tuesday.
Thousands of counterfeit products are traded over Dutch website Bol.com, watchdog React said to AD on Wednesday. This includes things like cellphones, earphones, batteries and chargers.
Online store Bol.com has to stop selling fireworks, because it is illegal to send fireworks by post. The online store removed all fireworks from its website after a reminder from the Environment and Transport Inspectorate, AD reports.
According to the newspaper, about 225 different types of fireworks were for sale on Bol.com, ranging from sparklers to fireworks packages. But the Inspectorate does not differentiate between types of fireworks - no fireworks may be sent by post, a spokesperson said to AD.
Last minute Christmas shopping is expected to result in an extremely busy day for Dutch online stores on Monday. Bol.com director Daniel Ropers expects Monday to be the busiest day in the history of online shopping in the Netherlands
Department store chain Hema was once again voted the Netherlands' most needed brand in research institute Eurib's annual top 100 ranking. Bol.com came a close second and Ikea came in third.
Supermarket group Ahold saw an increase in both turnover and profits in what CEO Dick Boer calls "a strong second quarter".
An expectant mom was pleasantly surprised by an endearing letter from Bol.com telling her that a product she ordered is unavailable.
The Netherlands' largest online store Bol.com is planning on building a massive new logistics center in Waalwijk, Branbants Dagblad reports.
Retail group Ahold, parent company of among others Albert Heijn, Etos and bol.com, released its annual figures for the 2014 financial year today.
The fact that Dutch people love free stuff is clearly reflected in the search results of Marktplaats. This keyword is entered on the trading site 50 times a day on average, and thus tops the list of most used keywords on Marktplaats 2014.
The packages streaming into PostNL formed such a tall tower that it collapsed. The 56 year old PostNL employee, Ellen, had to stop sorting the packages or she would literally have been buried by her workload, the Volkskrant reports.
Large retail chains are trying to lure customers with huge discounts at a time where they need to earn their money. "It is total panic," conclude retail experts.
Fifty freelance couriers contracted by PostNL, DHL and UPS have taken action against Bol.com, alleging poor working conditions and financial exploitation. Bol.com’s offer of “free delivery” has become a target for the FNV trade union who claims that it is the couriers who pay the price for cheap parcel delivery.
Major online stores, such as Coolblue and Bol.com, will no longer publish a large part of their ranges on price comparison site Kieskeurig.nl.
Online shop Amazon.com is negotiating with Dutch publishers regarding the sale of e-books. Making the speculations about a possible move to the Netherlands concrete.
Dutch online shop Bol.com is going to work together with Canadian e-reading service Kobo to expand its online e-book range. Bol.com announces in a press report that clients will have access to two million e-books, rather than hundreds of thousands, thanks to the partnership, the nrc reports.
Toy company Fisher Price sold its last Zwarte Piet dolls in The Netherlands yesterday after various media reported that the company would stop production of the doll, which is part of a set including Piet, Sinterklaas and his horse Schimmel. Online as well as in stores, there was a rush to buy the dolls, which sold by the hundreds.
