History

Think about it: you welcome so much customers every day that you need at least four big concert halls to fit them into. Crazy, right? We could not imagine that all those years ago either. Find out everything about the wonderful history of bol.com.

The highlights of 22 years of bol.com

1999

In 1999 bol.com saw the light. It was just an ordinary Thursday (or was it a Wednesday?) that the first online bookstore opened its virtual doors.
2003

We reached the cape of 50 colleagues. Each of them are proud bol.commers that know how to organize a football competition, how to throw a party and how to get things done, all at the same time. Shortly after that, the Friday drinks and our own bol.com bar were created.
2009

And then, all of a sudden, it was our ten year anniversary. We got a lot of appreciation for the hard work: we won the Thuiswinkel Awards and were chosen best webshop of the Netherlands. Time for the next big step: from online mediastore to online warehouse!
2010

The beginning of bol.com in Belgium. The first step towards our southern neighbours.
2014

In 2014 we reached the amazing number of 5.000.000 customers! And together with the number of customers, the number of colleagues increased as well.
2017

The festive opening of our own bol.com fulfilment center in Waalwijk by our CEO Huub Vermeulen.
2018

1500! In 2018 the 1500th colleague joined the bol.com team.
2019

Hooray! 10 million people in the Netherlands and Belgium are shopping at bol.com.
2021

After more than 20 years, our CEO Huub Vermeulen has decided to leave the company. Margaret Versteden , Chief Platform Officer, has been proposed as his successor.
2023

Making more sustainable choices is not always easy. But we did it: we are B Corp certified! A certification to be proud of and a step in the right direction. And certainly not the last.