The blog

These last few Corona-dominated months have taught us some valuable lessons. Lesson one: times are even more unpredictable than we had ever imagined. We need to prepare for constant change, with a more profound impact than ever before. But speed of change in itself will not make the difference in the long run. Agility, the willingness and ability to reinvent oneself, will become hygiene factors (in the sense of always-on), but by no means a guarantee of success. To create a sustainable business model, marketers will have to combine agility with real added value for the customer.

Let’s go back 10-20 years ago when you decided to get on board the ‘digital- marketing-train'. New platforms like Facebook and Netlog were all set to send your sales skyrocketing. Digital marketing was going to change everything.

The Best Brands Awards 2020 rewarded Belgium’s favorite brands in 21 different sectors. Via an online research campaign conducted by GfK, 5,000 Belgian households determined their “best brands” on two criteria: Share of wallet (Price Premium, Market Share, First Choice) & Share of soul (Awareness, Relationships, Cross-Selling Potential, Experience, Brand Image).

Over these past few days, our society has started to open up again – step by step – after weeks of strict COVID-19 measures. The weeks that have just gone by have seen the emergence of new habits in terms of the way we eat, shop, work, exercise, take care of our health, meet with friends, etc. Many of these behavioral changes will stick, at least until a vaccine is discovered, tested & approved, or herd immunity is attained.

Christel de Boer, platform consultant at bol.com, shares key insights into how to grow your business by selling your products through an online marketplace. bol.com is one of the most successful marketplaces, selling over 23 million articles in more than 50 different categories, across Belgium and The Netherlands. Given the huge increase in e-commerce volume over the past couple of weeks, she also discusses how bol.com is supporting partners (brands, retailers or entrepreneurs who sell on the platform) and customers (consumers who shop on the platform) during the corona crisis.

Noukie’s is a Belgian brand specializing in products for newborn babies and children up to 8 years old. Their collection ranges from soft toys and baby clothing to blankets and sleeping bags. Noukie’s is a successful cross-border omni-channel player, selling in over 30 countries. They own physical stores in Belgium and France, run their own webshop and collaborate with marketplaces and e-tailers. We sat down with Amaury Gilliot, E-commerce & Marketing Manager at Noukie’s to discuss their experience of working with marketplaces, and of course, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on their business.

With a total revenue of more than 8 billion euros in 2019, e-commerce in Belgium has never performed so well. This figure has witnessed a double-digit growth since at least 2015, the year The House of Marketing introduced the E-commerce Barometer. And we can expect a further growth in the coming years, not only because the share of online versus offline is expected to increase but also because there are still many opportunities ahead from cross-border e-commerce. So, given that Belgian webshops can still look forward to a bright future, I wanted to take a look at practices seen abroad that could help our Belgian webshops differentiate themselves in a creative way and thrive in a competitive landscape currently dominated by some big players. May these 9 examples inspire you for your e-commerce strategy.

COVID-19 has literally turned our world upside down over the past few weeks and is calling on us to change – a lot! From staying home and having video calls with your children interrupting to online yoga classes and… adapting your communication strategy. Here are our four key takeaways of things you should definitely look out for nowadays.

It is no mystery that there is a very big shift in customer behavior and this phenomenon impacts every business in every industry. Customers are increasingly more demanding, wanting companies to be where they are, to communicate when they want it and how they want it. All of this triggered by the internet and the convenience of digitization. Being relevant for customers has never been more challenging and forces companies to become really customer-centric. Follow our 10-step roadmap to unique customer-centric Value Propositions based on the Business Design Thinking phases.

Voice Technology is everywhere. More than half of U.S. adults have used voice commands and that number keeps growing every day. Belgian consumers are also signing up for it. According to a study by Wavemaker, more than 29% of Belgians used a voice assistant in 2019. It makes perfect sense. The technology itself keeps improving and the possibilities keep expanding every day. But despite the growing popularity among consumers, VoiceTech adoption in the office is still limited. This could have several causes, such as the rise of the open workspace and a lack of privacy amongst colleagues. These limitations disappear however in our home office, where Voice Technology can inject some real added value to your (work)day. These challenging times are an ideal moment to give it a try. Before introducing you to some great VoiceTech tools, let us take you through the different types of devices on which they can be used: