Koen van Gelder
Team Lead E-commerce
Coolblue - statistics and facts
1999 was a landmark year for e-commerce in the Netherlands. Long before most households had their own internet connection, two Dutch start-ups saw potential in this new digital sphere and managed to stay afloat during the dot-com crash. Fast forward to 2024, and Bol.com and Coolblue are the two leading e-commerce players in the Netherlands and Belgium. Whereas the former company started out as an online bookstore and transformed into an Amazon-esque generalist online marketplace, Coolblue has been an electronics e-tailer from the start. This wealth of e-commerce experience has allowed the company to stay at the top of the electronics e-commerce market, fending off noteworthy foreign and domestic competitors. As of 2024, Coolblue is ready to spread its wings, starting with a major expansion into the German online market.
After establishing itself as a strong omnichannel electronics retailer in the Netherlands and Belgium, Coolblue appears primed to move into the much bigger German market. Nonetheless, it will face fierce competition from Ceconomy’s MediaMarkt and Saturn, not to mention rapidly growing Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Temu and Aliexpress.
Will Coolblue’s success spread across borders?
Coolblue has been active in Germany since 2020, but as of late 2023, most German consumers had never even heard of the brand. 84 percent of survey respondents did not know Coolblue, and just 4 percent mentioned seeing mentions of the brand in media or advertising. On its home turf, the situation is very different. The leading electronics e-tailer has enjoyed continuous revenue growth in the past decade, reaching nearly 2.5 billion euros in sales in 2023. Like many of its competitors, the company saw massive profits during the height of the pandemic, and in the current post-pandemic climate, the company still managed to record a net profit of roughly 27 million euros.Word-of-mouth and omnichannel as growth strategies
Coolblue’s clearly defined strategy has played a large part in its current domestic and preliminary international success. Firstly, the e-tailer has always put customer satisfaction at the forefront, basing its marketing strategy on consumer word-of-mouth. The company recorded a Net Promotor Score of 71 in its latest annual report, a sign that many of its customers do not only come back to the online store; they also promote it in their immediate surroundings. Secondly, Coolblue implemented an omnichannel approach to its B2C activities by opening several physical stores in recent years. In 2024, Coolblue had 25 brick-and-mortar stores in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. This makes the company a rare example of a retailer that started online and later moved into the traditional retail segment.After establishing itself as a strong omnichannel electronics retailer in the Netherlands and Belgium, Coolblue appears primed to move into the much bigger German market. Nonetheless, it will face fierce competition from Ceconomy’s MediaMarkt and Saturn, not to mention rapidly growing Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Temu and Aliexpress.
