Impact Study
Bol is the largest eCommerce player in the Netherlands. With 47 million unique products on offer, bol customers have a wide range of choices. That’s why 13 million Dutch and Belgians shop on its online retail platform each year. Bol also works with over 51,000 local entrepreneurs who sell through its platform.
Challenge
Bol grew revenue from 0.5 billion in 2013, when we started our collaboration, to 5.5 billion euros in 2022 – a factor 11 in just 9 years. Data generation and usage grew exponentially during that period. Operations for their own products and those of partners needs to be run smoothly in terms of assortment, product availability, and customer service. This requires advanced skills in (automated) data flows, analysis, and modelling.
Solution
We developed a tailored in-house program for bol to help manage its quickly growing teams of analysts, which bol calls “Kom tot de Kern” (Get to the Core). The program trains business analysts and analytics specialists to identify, structure, analyze, and communicate data-driven opportunities. Participants bring their own case study, which is based on the real-world situations they face in their day-to-day work. They start with exploring the opportunities, and break down the questions into hypotheses and formulate initiatives to test them. Then an analytical storyline is created to explore and analyze the case study. Finally, they work two days on their data communication skills which includes storytelling, visualization, and presentation. As this is applied to their own case study, giving them a concrete output which they can use directly in their day-to-day work.
Outcome
With so far already ~45 groups (each of 10 to 15 employees) over a period of 10 years, we have provided foundational skills for more than 630 bol employees who can use them to solve problems they face in their work (both through Kom tot de Kern as well as other training programs). Analysts who followed the program consistently mention how the trainings with GAIn equipped them with a practical toolkit that they can apply to their own work.
Impact stats
>630
High-caliber data analysts (Translators)
We have setup a tailored program which gave all analysts in bol one language to speak to each other whilst increasing their analytical capabilities.
8.5
Average satisfaction score (out of 10)
Employees following the trainings consistently mention how the trainings within GAIn help them have a toolset which they can practically apply to their own work.
45
Groups trained
45 groups of 10 to 15 analysts over 10 years, with 240 participants trained between 2020-2023.
“After the training I could clearly see improvements and progress in my team. The program is perfect for anyone looking for a lot of tools to start getting more impact from data!”
