bol.com

Bol.com is a superpower in the Benelux e-commerce sector, but its exact figures have long been a well-kept secret. In order to support its own share price, owner Ahold Delhaize has been considering more openness about the figures in recent months, but for fear of Amazon's expansion to the Netherlands, this plan has been abandoned.

Retailers in the Benelux will face declining consumer confidence and increasing competition in the coming years, credit rating agency Moody’s says in a new report. Traditional retail chains are forced to make high investments due to the growth of online retail, which has a negative impact on profits and creditworthiness.
 

What will 2020 bring for the retail sector? Growing tensions between retailers and their suppliers, fears EuroCommerce director-general Christian Verschueren. He hopes that the new European Commission will put a strong stop to increasing protectionism.

Dutch drugstore chain Etos is to start selling through webshop bol.com. With this move, both Ahold Delhaize subsidiaries are looking to strengthen their synergies.

German Zalando and Dutch bol.com are building on their sustainability: while the former says its operations are now completely climate neutral, the latter has opened a separate shop including only sustainable products, because "sustainability is a commercial success".

Next summer, Dutch e-tailer bol.com will expand to Wallonia with a French-language version of its app. The company is looking for local companies to sell on its platform.

Despite the strike at American subsidiary Stop & Shop, Ahold Delhaize was able to limit the damage to its financial results. Dutch bol.com performed strongly, Belgian Delhaize less so.