19 December was for both bol.com and Coolblue the busiest day ever. Bol.com mainly took advantage of the additional Belgian customers.
Monday prior to Christmas busiest day
The week prior to Christmas is always one of the busiest periods, both offline and online, but an increasing number of customers shops online. Web shops’ best day is traditionally the Monday before Christmas, because then there is still plenty of time to get the package delivered at home and placed underneath the Christmas tree.
Coolblue employed 360 people in its warehouses to get everything shipped on time and both it and bol.com attracted more Belgian customers. For instance, bol.com’s Belgian share grew with 300,000 people to 1.3 Belgian million customers. The shops’ busiest time is between 21 and 22h “when physical stores are closed”, RetailDetail’s Jorg Snoeck said.
Good for the environment
Retail expert Gino Van Ossel feels it is good for the environment if more people order things online. “It is as if your package takes the bus. Instead of everyone using the car to buy packages, one truck brings a lot of packages to the people’s door step. In total, those are fewer kilometers, not more“, he told VRT Nieuws.
Physical stores have another peak moment: their busiest period are the few days before Christmas and it is expected that Friday 23 December or Saturday 24 December will become the busiest day of the year for them.
