When using the Bol.com Repricer in Channable, there are several Repricer strategies possible. There are currently two strategies to do this: Buy Box Targeting and Competitor Targeting. In this article, we explain how the Buy Box Targeting strategy works. If you want to read more general information about the Repricer first, go to this article. If you want to know how to configure the Repricer, read this article first.
The Buy Box Targeting strategy
The buy-box is the ‘buy-now’ button on Bol.com that places the product order directly with the seller/merchant that has the best offer for that product. Meaning that if you are offering this product, and you don’t have the buy-box, the buyer has to specifically go to a list of other sellers and select you from that list. This is a manual action that many buyers may not ever consider, so it's a great disadvantage.
To get the best offer for the Buy Box, Bol.com makes a (secret) evaluation that involves:
- Offer price
- Delivery time
- Seller rating
- Stock levels
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And other factors…
Channable can only influence the price part of trying to get you the buy box. Other elements that will influence you getting the buy box are determined outside Channable and are not adjustable using the Repricer. This is true for both available strategies.
If your intention is to always aim for the buy-box, Channable offers the Buy Box Targeting strategy. This strategy checks if you have the best offer for each product for which the Repricer is correctly configured. It then attempts to undercut the competition by 0.5% of the price if the price is higher than 20 euros, or by 10 cents if the price is lower than 20 euros. Subsequently, it assesses if you have the best offer with the new price. If you do not have the best offer, it will continue to lower the price. This process will persist until the minimum price threshold is reached or until you have the best offer on that product, ultimately securing the buy box.
By default, the Buy-box Targeting strategy will try to compete with all sellers, regardless of their delivery time and/or seller rating. Additionally, it is not possible to set the Repricer to an amount that will undercut the competition. If you wish to set these parameters, you can use the Competitor Targeting strategy.
For Bol.com, the Buy-box strategy offers two modes: Prioritize Buy-box time and prioritize margins. The image below provides specification details for each mode.
Prioritize buy box time
The goal of this mode is to get the buy box quickly and keep it.
With the 'Prioritize Buy-box time' mode, the Repricer will increase the price in the following scenarios:
- An offer has the buy box for 3 weeks.
- The offer has the buy box upon introduction to the Repricer.
The three weeks before increasing the price have been chosen as the safe medium to make sure to retain the buy box and avoid the risk of losing it too early. These three weeks are the standard duration for “Prioritize buy box time” in “Targeting mode”.
If you switch to “Prioritize margins”, the default for this option is 72 hours, but it can be customized according to your preference and specified down to the hour. More information about this strategy will be further explained below.
Prioritize margins
The goal of this mode is to obtain the buy box with the highest possible price.
If you have good ratings, delivery times, etc., you may want to consider this mode because having the lowest price is not necessary to win the buy box.
This mode performs two things:
- It starts repricing from a different price point when an offer doesn't have the buy box. Instead of undercutting all competition, it starts at 110% of the current buy box winner's price. From that point, it decrements until the buy box has been won. For example, if your competitor is selling an item for 10 euros, your offer would be listed for 11 euros and the Repricer will lower that price with the amounts set out above until you have the buy box.
- When an offer has the buy box for the selected wait time (default 72 hours) OR an offer has the buy box upon introduction to the Repricer, the Repricer starts repricing upwards. The wait time can be changed in the reprice settings.
When does the Repricer stop increasing my price?
With both strategies, the Repricer increases the price until:
- The buy box is lost.
- The maximum price set by the customer is reached.
In the case of the 'Prioritize buy box time' mode only:
- The price stops increasing once it reaches the price of the next competitor.
Consequences
When choosing a mode, it is important to consider the unintended consequences that may arise from using the 'Prioritize margins' mode.
- It may take longer to win the buy box because of the higher starting point.
- There is a risk of losing the buy box to a competitor because the price gets too high. In this case, we try to win it back right away by going back to the previous price.
- There is a higher risk of getting taken offline because Bol.com decided the price is too high for the market. It's important to take this into account when setting the maximum price.