Belgian-Dutch online shopping platform bol.com on Wednesday launched a French-language website in Belgium, targeting customers in Brussels and Wallonia.
Through this new website, French-speaking people living in Wallonia and Brussels will gain access to the full range of products on the online shopping platform, from electronics to health and household products, in their own language.
"In 2020, we already launched a French-language app. That app created quite a stir. By now, one in three French-speaking Belgians knows about us and the app has been downloaded over 200,000 times," said Boukje Taphoorn, Director of Marketing (CMO) at bol.com.
However, according to the company's data, around half of its French-speaking customers mainly surf to the Dutch website, which is why it decided to launch the fully French website, "so that everyone can now shop in their own language."
"In this way, we want to make everyday life easier for our French-speaking customers too."
Pushing local products
Bol.com first launched in Flanders in 2010, offering products from large companies and local Belgian entrepreneurs. Alongside the launch of its French-speaking website, it is also looking for more local Walloon and Brussels sales partners to offer their products on the shopping platform.
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"Acting locally often means acting in a more sustainable and climate-friendly way," Taphoorn said. The increase in online purchases, partly driven by the coronavirus crisis, resulted in the number of sales partners active on bol.com doubling in the last year.
"So acting locally certainly pays off, not just for us, but especially for them."
Bol.com was not able to respond to questions from the Brussels Times regarding the development of an English-speaking website for Belgian customers due to its planned initial public offering (IPO).
