bol Retail Media: how advertising on bol works for brands and sellers

bol sells ads to two audiences at once. It is a retailer that also runs a marketplace, so manufacturers and independent sellers both want visibility on the same search pages. Sellers buy Sponsored Products in their seller account. Brands buy campaigns through bol Retail Media. Ahold Delhaize lists "Branded Shelves", which gives partners their own digital storefronts, as a new advertising product from bol (Ahold Delhaize, Annual Report 2025).

bol is also one network inside a group strategy. Ahold Delhaize created AD Retail Media (EU) to support its European networks, including Albert Heijn and bol. Its stated tasks are to sell retail media for products not sold at the local brands and to build offsite media (same source). For a brand selling in the Netherlands and Belgium, bol and AH Retail Media Services are therefore sister networks under one owner, one non-food and one grocery.

The third point is audited reach. bol and Albert Heijn were the first retailers in NMO online, the Dutch national standard for online audience figures (AH Retail Media Services, 19 May 2025). Media planners can compare bol's reach with publishers on the same currency.

Sponsored Products. bol's partner platform describes them as an ad tool that links shoppers' search terms to a seller's items. Partners pay per click and bid the most they will pay for one (bol Partner Platform, accessed 9 November 2026). The item must hold the buy box. Some products, such as infant formula and certain medicines, are excluded under the Dutch Advertising Code. The platform says 78% of clicks on product pages come from the first page of search results (company claim, same source).

Branded Shelves and Brand Page Creator. Branded Shelves show a partner's branded items prominently, and Brand Page Creator builds a brand page on bol (same source). They give brands storytelling space, not only a lifted listing.

Display, social and offsite. bol Retail Media's own site promotes display and social campaigns for brands, but it did not answer our requests, so we could not read the details. The group's AD Retail Media (EU) unit is building offsite media for Ahold Delhaize's European brands (Ahold Delhaize, Annual Report 2025).

Sponsored Products target shoppers by search term: sellers choose their own keywords and adjust them based on data (bol Partner Platform). Brand campaigns draw on what bol customers search, browse and buy across many categories. The company has not published how audiences are built or protected, or whether a clean room is used for brand data.

Advertisers receive reports, not customer records. Because bol serves both Dutch and Belgian shoppers, ask how campaigns split by country and language.

Sellers see the sales and performance of advertised items, placement results and visibility trends in their seller account (bol Partner Platform). A seller quoted on bol's page reports earning seven euros in revenue for every euro invested; that is one partner's result, not a bol average.

For reach, bol reports in NMO online. We found no IAB Europe retail media certification for bol. In May 2026 IAB Europe ran a bespoke retail media training day for about 70 bol staff in Utrecht, covering measurement among other topics (IAB Europe, 14 May 2026). Ask brands' contacts for the attribution window and whether sales lift is measured against a control group, which is the basis of incrementality.

1. Sellers: open Advertising in the seller account and choose Sponsored Products, then set budgets per campaign, day and month.
2. Pick keywords and bids for items that hold the buy box; start with bestsellers and new items.
3. Use a bol-selected agency if you want to outsource management.
4. Brands: contact bol Retail Media for Branded Shelves, display and social campaigns.
5. Agree reporting before launch, including country split, attribution window and NMO reach figures.

It suits:

• brands and sellers targeting Dutch and Belgian online shoppers;
• non-food categories such as electronics, toys, home and books;
• marketplace partners who want click-based ads tied to search terms.

It suits less:

• grocery-only brands, which may fit Albert Heijn better;
• advertisers needing in-store media, which bol does not have;
• buyers who need IAB Europe-certified metrics today.

• The launch date of bol's advertising business.
• bol's brand-facing format list, rate card and minimum spend.
• Any ad technology partner, and whether bol uses the group's Gambit platform.
• Advertising revenue in euros.
• Current growth: the latest figure we found is Q2 2025.

1. bol Partner Platform, "Discover Sponsored Products" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://partnerplatform.bol.com/en/cdp/sponsored-products
2. Ahold Delhaize, Annual Report 2025, strategic report (February 2026). https://media.aholddelhaize.com/media/wdvdzzgs/strategic-report-annual-report-2025.pdf
3. Ahold Delhaize, "Ahold Delhaize reports solid Q2 performance driven by sales growth; 2025 outlook reiterated" (6 August 2025). https://newsroom.aholddelhaize.com/ahold-delhaize-reports-solid-q2-performance-driven-by-sales-growth-2025-outlook-reiterated/
4. Ahold Delhaize, "Ahold Delhaize reports resilient Q3 2026 results and updates 2026 guidance to reflect business disruption caused by recent cybersecurity incident" (4 November 2026). https://newsroom.aholddelhaize.com/ahold-delhaize-reports-resilient-q3-2026-results-and-updates-2026-guidance-to-reflect-business-disruption-caused-by-recent-cybersecurity-incident/
5. AH Retail Media Services, "Online bereik van Retail Media bij Albert Heijn zichtbaar door toetreding tot NMO online" (19 May 2025). https://www.ahretailmediaservices.nl/nieuws-insights/online-bereik-van-retail-media-bij-albert-heijn-zichtbaar-door-toetreding-tot-nmo-online/
6. IAB Europe, "Bringing Retail Media Learning In-House: Bespoke Training with bol" (14 May 2026). https://iabeurope.eu/bringing-retail-media-learning-in-house-bespoke-training-with-bol/