How BePartEvents gains profit insights through MarktMentor
Lars HurkmansCo-founder16 January 2024Reading time 5 minutes
BePartEvents, an events agency from Weert, started Bolke during the covid pandemic, a new branch for online sales on bol. To get a grip on profitability, shipping and return costs, findability and range, the company started working with MarktMentor. In this case study, co-owner Thijn Spijkerman shares what insights that delivered.
Who is BePartEvents?
BePartEvents, based in Weert, has developed into a leading and fast-growing events agency in the region. The agency is known for its expertise in developing unique concepts and running various events from start to finish. Their ability to manage every aspect of an event, from planning to execution, has earned them a strong reputation in and around Weert.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020 and the subsequent lockdown in the Netherlands, however, posed a significant challenge for the events industry. With their primary business activities temporarily at a standstill, the Spijkerman brothers, the driving forces behind BePartEvents, faced a critical decision. Instead of accepting this unprecedented situation, they saw an opportunity to put their entrepreneurial skills to use in a different way. This led to their decision to enter the e-commerce industry.
The Spijkerman brothers founded Bolke, a new branch of their company focused on online sales. This turned out to be a smart move. Four years later, both BePartEvents and Bolke are successful. Bolke's success, in particular, highlighted the need for detailed insight into sales and profit performance. It was in this context that Bolke turned to MarktMentor.
BePartEvents' challenges
BePartEvents faced several challenges typical of online selling. Getting clear insight into the profitability of their online shop was a significant challenge. They needed a system that could simplify financial data and present it clearly.
Another point of attention was the findability of their range on bol. They needed advanced tools for keyword analysis to improve their position in search results. The existing tools offered some support, but weren't sophisticated enough for their needs.
On top of that, a deeper understanding of the sales market on bol was important for BePartEvents. They wanted to better understand their own performance and gain insight into market trends and competition, so they could refine their strategies.
“One of our biggest challenges was getting a clear picture of profitability, particularly with regard to shipping and return costs. In our search for a solution we landed on MarktMentor.”
How MarktMentor has helped BePartEvents
Deeper insights into profit
Through MarktMentor, BePartEvents has gained significantly better insight into the profitability of their bol shop. A key component of this is the improved understanding of shipping and return costs. MarktMentor includes these costs in its calculations, giving BePartEvents a clearer picture of their real profitability.
MarktMentor's shop dashboard offers a detailed cost breakdown, not just for the entire range, but also for specific segments of it. This lets BePartEvents identify which products are profitable and which aren't, and more importantly, understand why certain products are less profitable. The detailed insights into return costs are particularly valuable; they give BePartEvents new information they can use to strategically adjust their range, decide whether or not to keep offering certain products, and improve their overall profitability.
How such a profit calculation for a product on bol is built up, you can read back in our article on calculating the profitability of a product on bol.
Automating processes: proactive invoice uploads
Another important solution BePartEvents has successfully implemented through MarktMentor is the automation of their invoicing process. This feature lets them automatically create customer invoices and upload them to bol as soon as an order comes in. This automation has had a significant impact on their operations, because manually uploading invoices on request is now a thing of the past.
Previously, the BePartEvents team had to carefully track when an invoice request came in, which could be both time-consuming and error-prone. With the introduction of MarktMentor's automated invoicing process, this manual task has been completely eliminated. This means not only a saving of time and effort, but also a reduction in the chance of errors that can occur during manual processing.
This automation has enabled BePartEvents to significantly improve their operational efficiency. It lets them focus more on other aspects of their business, while the reliability and speed of their invoicing process have increased significantly.
“Previously we spent a lot of time tracking and manually creating customer invoices. Now that we use MarktMentor this is a thing of the past.”
Improving findability through keyword analysis
BePartEvents has achieved a significant improvement in the findability of their products on bol by making effective use of keyword analysis through MarktMentor. With MarktMentor's My Ranking feature, they gained insight into which keywords their various products in the range were found under. This let them make strategic decisions about which keywords to sponsor more or less, which contributed to a more efficient use of their marketing budget.
On top of that, MarktMentor's Keyword Guide gave them the opportunity to discover new keywords they weren't yet found organically for, but their competitors were. This led to valuable discoveries of relevant keywords that were missing from their product listings. By adding these keywords, they not only improved their findability on the platform, but also saw an increase in their sales. This improved visibility had a direct impact on their sales performance, proving how crucial solid keyword analysis is in the competitive e-commerce market.
More about this approach can be read in our article on a keyword strategy for your findability on bol.
Finding seasonal products through the Niche Explorer
BePartEvents uses MarktMentor's Niche Explorer to strategically expand their range with seasonal products. This tool makes it possible to search specifically for products that fit different seasons, which helps them respond in time to changing market trends and consumer demand. This lets BePartEvents keep their offering dynamic and relevant, an important factor in their growth strategy on bol.
How you find new product opportunities using keywords is described in product research through keywords with the niche explorer.
“Through MarktMentor we can easily find products to expand our range with. Searching for seasonal products in particular caught our attention here.”