Logistics at bol can be divided into three unique challenges. 1: Fulfilling our primary customer promise. Together with external partners, we ensure that customers receive their packages on time and we coordinate the lightning-fast logistics processes. 2: Continuous innovation. We renew and improve the daily process to support the growth of bol and serve our partners. 3: Shaping the future. The complexity lies in scalability. How do we respond to market trends and customer needs? What experiments can we try? Which parts can we mechanise? In other words: how do we stay ahead as a retail tech platform?

Almost everyone in the Netherlands and Belgium has ordered something from bol at some point: a book, a charger, toys or a gift. With just one click, it’s arranged: fast, easy and reliable. And often the package arrives on the doorstep the very next day. What seems obvious, is in reality an impressive logistical achievement. Behind that single mouse click runs a complex operation powered by smart technology, thoughtful decisions and strong collaboration. From software that predicts what customers will need, to robotic arms picking orders and couriers completing the final stretch. In the video ‘From bol to bell’, we open the doors to this world: usually invisible, but essential for every package.

We work in cross-functional teams together with colleagues from the whole organisation. Business analysts, product owners, engineers, data scientists and other professionals; together we work continuously on innovations to optimise our daily business. Which process can we make more efficient? Where can we improve quality or save costs? With an ever-growing number of products for sale (currently 41 million) and increasingly more orders daily, you can imagine the opportunities. We’re constantly developing and testing. Because every metre and every second of profit has a direct impact on daily operations.

Safak Tuna, Manager in the heart of bol logistics, talks about his experiences: “A lot of the logistics at bol we do ourselves. We have our own machines, our own warehouses and our own IT systems. Together with our logistic partners, we control everything. Thousands of people work here every day to keep goods flowing, and we manage that together. We all complement each other and that makes the job fantastic.”

As the largest retail tech platform in the Netherlands and Belgium, we send out 500,000 packages every day. In the future, this will only increase. How will logistics keep pace with the expansion of bol? And how do we scale our processes? Bol is ahead of the game, thus we have to pioneer. And that is what we are doing. By conducting research and experimenting, we have learned what customers consider important in terms of our logistics.

We build new, scalable warehouses. We develop smart forecasting tools and experiment with robotisation, mechanisation and automation. We initiate and direct smart innovations and we work on the future of deliveries and on major game-changers in the Dutch logistics world. We are prepared for the future. Even better: we actually shape the future.

Within logistics, there are plenty of opportunities and possibilities that you can seize. Entrepreneurship and flexibility are important. We work together with many internal and external parties. That’s why it’s important to be able to adapt to their wishes. Together, we make our brains tick, have fun at work and get the best out of each other.