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Deep-dive specification research on bol: which product do you offer?

Lars Hurkmans·Co-founder·18 February 2026·Reading time 10 minutes

You determine which product you offer on bol based on the filterable specifications. bol sorts those filters by what consumers search for most. By grouping products per specification value in the product radar and stacking the best-selling values, you filter out competitors and choose a product that's both in demand and easy to find.

This is part 7 of our product research series. In part 6 we found the differentiation of two niches through reviews: computer glasses and wildlife cameras. There we kept the specifications light. In this article we really dive in and decide, per niche, which product we would offer.

What determines which product you offer on bol?

The filterable specifications determine which product you offer. Up to now we mainly looked at the reviews of existing products. Now we analyse the products themselves, compare them on their specifications and decide which type of product within a product group has the best chance. That's the step where you really become a product expert. We go through it for the two niches from the previous parts: computer glasses and wildlife cameras.

Where do you find the filterable specifications of a product?

In two places. On the left of the category page are the filters, and that's already part of the specifications, but not all of them. You find the full list on a product page itself: scroll down to the product specifications. At the bottom is the heading "you'll find this item under", and those are the filterable specifications: the characteristics by which consumers can find your product. That's where we start, because that's how you get found. The other specifications come later.

Why does the order of the filters on bol matter?

Because bol doesn't sort the filters randomly, but by what consumers search for most. The specification at the top is the most searched for and therefore the most relevant. For computer glasses, lens strength is at the top, only then colour and only then price. That price isn't at the top is notable: people definitely search on price, but those first two specifications weigh at least as heavily.

That order is useful for two reasons. You differentiate yourself by choosing the right specifications, and you filter out competitors with them. An example from this article: on the category page there are about 2,000 products. As soon as you filter on one specific strength value, only ten remain. If you choose specifications in high demand, you compete with far fewer sellers while also being found better. These numbers are illustrative.

Also watch the reverse: sometimes not turning on a filter means something in itself. With computer glasses, without the strength filter you're left with exactly the glasses that have no strength, and that's a group worth taking into account.

How do you compare products per specification in the product radar?

By creating a separate group per specification value in the product radar. Clicking away individual products in the browser works for a few items, but with a whole category you lose track. So you save it. The approach from this article, for computer glasses:

• Create a project (computer glasses) and a group per specification type, for example one group per frame shape.
• Turn on the corresponding filter on bol (for example one frame shape) and use the browser extension to add the entire page of products to the radar in one go.
• Scroll through until the products stop selling (lots of zeros or "unknown"); then you've captured the relevant products.
• Sort by last year's revenue and only include products above a relevance threshold. In this article that's at least 1,000 euros in revenue per year, the same threshold as in the market deep-dive. That's an illustrative, own choice to keep the list manageable, not a bol standard.
• Move the relevant products to the right group and repeat this for every specification value.

This gives you a group per frame shape, per colour and per strength that you can compare side by side on revenue and sales.

Which frame shape, colour and strength do you choose for the computer glasses?

You choose the best-selling value per filterable specification and stack them. For the computer glasses that comes down to three choices, which you make one by one.

The frame shape. Sort the groups by revenue. The best-performing frame shape (in the example data likely the wayfarer) is at the top and does well over a hundred thousand, so more than 100,000 euros, more revenue per year than the shape below it, while sales volumes are comparable. The difference is in the price: this is a somewhat more expensive model. Below that, the round shape performs comparably, oval (around 4,500 units and 90,000 euros revenue) and rectangular sit a fair bit lower, and the other shapes barely do anything. So you're left with a top three and a fourth below it, and all shapes also show growth. We continue with the best-performing frame shape, because that's the foundation of the glasses.

The colour. Filter on that frame shape and group by colour. Black is by far the most popular, followed by transparent and orange; the other colours barely sell. So you choose black. With just the frame shape and the colour added, in the example only about 28 competing products remain.

The lens strength. Group by strength. The group without strength performs by far the best, more than the rest combined. A high strength means you differentiate too much and end up in a market with little demand. A very light strength (around +0.25) can still work, a high one can't. So you choose no strength or at most a light one.

With the best-performing frame shape in black and without strength, you're likely to rank well in the filters fairly quickly. All the numbers mentioned are illustrative.

How do you differentiate within that group of competitors?

By laying the specifications of the remaining relevant products side by side and linking them to the improvement points from the reviews. After stacking the three filters, a group of the most relevant products remains, in the example the glasses without strength, about 17 units that genuinely sold over the past year.

Sort that list not by sales but by price, from low to high. By sales you only see the top performers; by price you see the whole spectrum of specifications. In the example, prices range from about €7 to €60, a big difference within one product type, and that difference lies in the specifications.

The specifications that matter for computer glasses include, among others, the frame type, the frame material, the lens material, the glasses options and the fit. You link the points that came out of the review analysis to this: a frame of better, more durable material instead of cheap plastic, and a coating against scratches on the lenses. This is how you translate consumer complaints into concrete specifications you can do better yourself. You then reflect those advantages in your listing.

Which price segments do you see for the computer glasses?

Roughly three, with an expensive outlier above them. If you pick one product per price point and compare the specifications, a clear pattern emerges:

• Basic model (roughly €12 to €18). A plastic frame and only basic functionality, without accessories such as a glasses case.
• Premium model (roughly €25 to €30). On top of that basic product come three specifications that immediately make it a lot more premium: a glasses case, a coating and a UV filter. You often also see better materials here, for example a metal frame instead of plastic, and glass instead of plastic lenses.
• Variant with tinted glass. An orange lens instead of standard transparent, priced between the basic and the premium model.
• Above that sits another expensive group with bundles, where two pairs of glasses are sold in one listing.

The conclusion is that you can choose a basic model or a more expensive model in which you include one or more of those components. Exactly what you add depends on the price premium, and you investigate that with the profitability. With the best-performing frame shape in black, in the example you're left with about 28 competitors, all of whom sell a lot and show growth. That makes it an interesting niche to continue with. The amounts mentioned are illustrative.

Which base specifications do you choose for the wildlife camera?

The same method delivers three base specifications for the wildlife camera: a 4K resolution, wifi and night vision. The filters here include night vision, video resolution and connectivity; on the product page specifications are added such as megapixels, storage capacity, an external memory slot and the package contents (think of an included SD card, batteries or a tripod).

We start with resolution for this article, even though it isn't at the top, because it's a core feature you can build many other choices on. In the example, the relevant market is about a million over the past year. Of that, by far the most goes to 4K, with a gap of roughly a factor of ten to Full HD. 8K is just a bit too much of a good thing and HD Ready does practically nothing. 4K is also the only resolution with a positive trend, while the rest is shrinking. So the base model becomes 4K.

Next comes connectivity, simply wifi or no wifi. About a third of wildlife cameras have wifi, but that group does grab over 60% of the relevant market. In other words: the supply with wifi is small and the demand for it is large, so wifi is almost mandatory. That matches the reviews, where the absence or poor functioning of wifi was mentioned as a problem.

Finally the functionality. Night vision is decisive: without night vision you fall into a group representing about 10% of the market value. Other features, such as a touchscreen, barely matter. So the base becomes a 4K camera with wifi and night vision. In the example, that combination covers roughly half the market and sits in a growing market, while other combinations come out a fair bit lower. All percentages and numbers are illustrative.

What do you differentiate on within the wildlife camera niche?

With the megapixels, the storage capacity and especially the package contents. Just like with the glasses, you sort the remaining products by price and lay the specifications side by side. In the example, prices range from about €55 to €100.

Two levers determine the price premium. More megapixels, especially combined with higher storage capacity, justifies a higher price. And the accessories you include, from an SD card to a tripod, a mounting bracket or screws and plugs, make a product more expensive and more complete. Some more expensive models differentiate mainly on better specifications, others mainly on a more complete package. So you can choose: focus on better specifications, on more accessories, or on a cheaper, basic model.

Linking back to the reviews: the megapixels and the storage matter, and you shouldn't skimp on weather resistance. A number of models turned out not to be fully splash- or waterproof, and that was exactly a complaint point. The completeness of the package was appreciated, so an included SD card can add real value. Wifi quality can't be read from the specifications themselves, because practically everyone claims wifi. So there's a lot of room to differentiate, with prices of roughly €55 to €100. Here too the amounts are illustrative, and whether it works out depends on the profitability.

What's the next step after the specification research?

Determining profitability. Which specifications you ultimately add depends on how much the price premium costs you against what you get back for it. Before you can calculate that, you first need to know how you launch the product on bol and what that costs, especially the advertising costs (the average winning bid). We cover that in the next part on launching a product and what advertising really costs.

Summary: from specifications to a product choice

• Start with the filterable specifications. You find those in the filters on the left of the category page and in full at the bottom of a product page; they're the characteristics by which you get found.
• Read the filter order as a demand signal. bol puts the most searched-for specifications at the top, so that's what you choose and differentiate on.
• Group per specification value in the product radar. Compare the groups on revenue and sales, and stack the best-selling values to filter out competitors.
• Computer glasses. The best-performing frame shape, the colour black and no (or a light) strength; you differentiate with material, coating, UV and accessories, spread across price segments of roughly €12 to €30.
• Wildlife cameras. 4K, wifi and night vision as the base; you differentiate with megapixels, storage and the package contents, with prices of roughly €55 to €100.
• Profitability comes next. Which specifications you add, you decide based on the price premium. All figures mentioned are illustrative.