Bol
What is Bol's brand image according to the consumer?
Case Information
Bol describes itself as ‘the shop for all of us’. But do Dutch and Flemish consumers agree? Does the brand image that Bol has of itself match the image held by its customers? Who is Bol according to the consumer? The online retailer commissioned Blauw to investigate this.
The question
Bol considers it important to pay attention to its brand personality. By discovering what the brand image is among consumers, Bol gains more insight into what is on customers’ minds and what position it occupies relative to competitors.
- Does Bol have a strong position in the online sector?
- Does Bol have a clear authenticity as an online retailer?
- Does the image consumers have of Bol match what the webshop wants to achieve?
- How can Bol differentiate itself?
Blauw investigated all these questions during two different phases.
The vision
Brand image
For this study, it was first of all important to get a feel for what is happening among Bol’s target group. Blauw investigated this through community research, consisting of 50 active participants per assignment. These participants were diverse online shoppers from both the Netherlands and Flanders, selected by Blauw to conduct a broad inventory. These participants completed various modules, including an archetype assignment and our own Brand Growth Architect assignment. Based on the results, Blauw launched a quantitative study among a larger group of consumers. Phase 2 included over 1,200 respondents per country/region.
The advantage of community research is that knowledge about the image and brand personality aspects of a brand and its competitors is obtained in various ways within a short timeframe. A community is also very suitable for following a target group over a certain period and taking an inventory of a wide range of experiences, opinions, and points of interest.
The solution
Phase 1: qualitative community research
First, Blauw asked the participants a number of open questions. A key question was: how would you describe bol.com? This primarily identified spontaneous associations that shoppers link to Bol. They were also asked how participants would describe Bol’s competitors. In addition, Blauw investigated which archetypes consumers associate with bol.com. The average neighbour? A caring type? The Brand Growth Architect and Brand Archetype research modules also played an important role in phase 1.
Brand Growth Architect
The Brand Growth Architect is a new method for researching brand personality. Various validated photo sets appear on a participant’s screen, depicting men or women. The participant was asked to point out the person they think is a bol.com customer. In other words: participants choose which person they feel best describes or portrays the brand name (Bol). By combining the Brand Growth Architect with archetypes, you gain insights that cannot be obtained with standard marketing research. The combination of these modules provides, among other things, a clear picture of how the brand is described as a person and what needs to be done to pursue a consistent brand personality.
Emotional connection
Emotional connection represents the bond the consumer has with a brand, in this case with bol.com and its competitors. How strongly is the brand name woven into the consumer’s mind? What associations do participants link to Bol? Which to its competitors? Blauw investigated the extent to which participants themselves felt certain brands in the market suited them, and whether they experienced a certain bond with them. An important indicator Blauw uses when measuring Emotional Connection is the participants’ response time. Based on this, we could see the extent to which participants felt Bol (or an association) suited them.
Phase 2: quantitative research
Based on the modules from phase 1, Bol gained more insight into the image of the brand that exists among consumers. Blauw then deployed the most important research modules used in phase 1 through quantitative research. This included the Brand Growth Architect and the archetypes. In this phase, respondents could also indicate why they felt an association or aspect suited the brand or why not. By bringing the research to a wider audience, the results became more reliable and representative of a larger group of consumers who shop online regularly.
<span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">the result
<span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">What were the results?
Blauw collected all research results and processed them in an effective and clear manner. This provided Bol with clear insights into the brand image according to consumers. All insights combined then led to concrete action points that Bol can take to grow the brand. In this way, a company like Bol ultimately moves closer to the consumer.
This type of brand research can give companies confirmation that they are on the right path, or conversely, offer interesting insights that brands can use to differentiate themselves in a unique way in the market.
In practice.
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