5 BeCommerce Awards and full of ambition - an interview with Pieter Zwart, Coolblue

Once initiated on a small student room in Rotterdam, Coolblue is now, for the third year in a row, winner of a number of important Becommerce awards. This year the company, with 77 specialised webshops and 4 physical stores in Belgium and the Netherlands, did not only win the public award in the category Electronics but also the overall public award, the new Conversation award and the B-2-C award of the jury. This made the store the overall winner of the 2011 BeCommerce awards and therefore also the representative from Belgium for the European E-Commerce Awards in Barcelona on May 24.
We speak with Pieter Zwart, founder and director of Coolblue about the current success and future plans of the company.

5 BeCommerce Awards, that is quite something ... Which award are you most proud of?

That is a difficult choice. Of course we are proud of all awards and certainly the overall public award. It really expresses the appreciation of Belgian consumers. We are also very proud however, of the Conversation Award. This prize is awarded to the webshop that best converses with customers. We work very hard on our customer service and winning this award shows us that our work is appreciated.

How do you deliver optimum customer service?

The customer is central to Coolblue. We are committed to provide the best service. This includes our key propositions as:

• Easy choices on a clear website.
• Clear information before, during and after the order.
• Experts who are available seven days a week via email and telephone.
• Physical shops in Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen and Antwerps.

Next to that, we are also very active on social media like Twitter and Facebook. On these social media customers receive a response to their question / message within 30 minutes. We also own a production team that makes several movies a week for our Youtube channel. This channel shows previews of new stores but also movies that answer common technical questions (eg 'how do I reset my Wii remote? ")

It is clear that customer service is a strong point of Coolblue. Are there other important things that set Coolblue apart from other online stores?

Besides our customer service our reliable delivery is very important. We offer the guarantee of ordered before 22.00 – delivered for free the next day. Returns are also for free and we have a dedicated team to make sure returns are dealt with as soon as possible.

How do you take care of optimal logistics & distribution?

What you do yourself, you do better. Therefore we have our own logistics system that, thanks to 10 years experience, is completely streamlined.

By winning the overall BeCommerce award you are now in the running for the European E-Commerce Awards in Barcelona. Here you will also meet competitors like Bol.com and Pixmania. How do you estimate the chances of Coolblue?

I estimate the chances of Coolblue very high. I think that, especially with our customer service, we stand out from many other online stores. We absolutely look forward to the awards next week!

Coolblue is active on both the Dutch and Belgian market. Both countries also have their own shops. Are there great differences in supply and demand between the Belgian and Dutch market?

We find that the things we stand for: an excellent customer service, ordered before 22.00 – delivered for free the next day, are highly appreciated in both countries. The strategy of Coolblue is therefore similar in Belgium and the Netherlands. Of course there are nuances in the local language and assortment (eg laptops Azerty Qwerty vs. laptops).

Do you have plans for further international expansion?

Hmmm, plans are different from ambition. The ambition is certainly there but currently there are no concrete plans. There are still opportunities for expansion within the Belgian and Dutch market. This year alone we plan to open 28 new shops in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Social and mobile commerce are seen as the e-commerce trends of 2011 – how active are you on these fields?

In the area of mobile, we are not very active. However, the current websites are all developed in a way they can also be viewed from a mobile phone. Next to that we are very active on social media and also have a 2-weekly Cool Deal that can be found in all shops and our newsletter.

Last year Coolblue has changed its appearance. Among others by a new logo. This would put more emphasis on the umbrella brand and ensure recognition for the consumer. How has this change been received by consumers?

We notice that the new look brings more recognizability, leading to an increase in the traffic between shops. We're expanding this strategy even further this year by launching a transcending shopping cart. A consumer will then be able to buy an iPod in MP3shop.be and a Philips headphone in Hoofdtelefoonstore.be in the same order. This will hopefully once again improve the shopping experience for our customers.


Want to know more?
Check out coolblue.be