Why a per-channel pricing strategy works better: how to target bol.com and Google Shopping separately

Many webshops still adhere to a simple rule: a product must have roughly the same price everywhere. That seems straightforward, but commercially it is often too simplistic. After all, bol.com and Google Shopping operate fundamentally differently. Those active on both channels usually achieve better results from a per-channel pricing strategy than from a uniform price for everything.

On bol.com, you deal with competitive pressure, visibility, and the buy box. On Google Shopping, it is more about click behavior, advertising costs, price perception, and conversion. These are different dynamics, and therefore each channel requires its own assessment.

In this blog, you will read why a per-channel pricing strategy works better, which differences between bol.com and Google Shopping are most important, and how to manage them smartly without losing sight of your margin.

Why a uniform pricing strategy often costs revenue

The same product can have a completely different price elasticity on different channels. Sometimes a small price difference on Google Shopping is immediately visible in your click-through rate, while that same difference on bol.com has hardly any effect as long as your listing remains strong enough. In other cases, the exact opposite is true.

If you use the same price everywhere, you usually get one of these two problems:

• your price is too aggressive on a channel where that is not necessary;
• Your price is too cautious on a channel where visibility depends directly on it.

Both cost money. Either in lost margin or lost revenue.

The difference between bol.com and Google Shopping

bol.com revolves around competition in a marketplace environment

On bol.com, you sell within a platform where multiple sellers of the same product stand side by side. Price is a direct factor in visibility and the chance of a buy box there. But price is not the only factor. Delivery time, reviews, and availability also count.

That means that on bol.com, you often want to very consciously manage your competitive position:

• When do you want to participate in the buy box;
• For which products do you want to protect the margin;
• Which competitors do you want to follow, or which do you definitely not want to follow?

A price on bol.com that is just competitive enough can be commercially perfect without necessarily hitting the absolute bottom. Read more about this on our page about repricing for bol.com.

Google Shopping revolves around price perception in the search phase.

On Google Shopping, the customer often sees your product compared to multiple webshops before clicking. Therefore, price plays a role earlier in the funnel. A small discrepancy can have a direct impact on the number of clicks and your final conversion.

However, especially on Google Shopping, you should not blindly aim for the lowest price. After all, your advertising costs, brand strength, shipping costs, and landing page also factor into the actual revenue from a click.

A lower price that yields more clicks is not automatically more profitable. Certainly not if those extra clicks do not convert sufficiently or push your margin down too far. Our existing blog on dynamic pricing for Google Shopping delves deeper into this.

Which price targets per channel are logical

A strong pricing strategy does not begin with the question of what the cheapest competitor is doing, but with the question of what this channel must deliver for this product.

Logical goals on bol.com

• maintain visibility on competitive SKUs;
• increase buy box opportunities on core assortment;
• protect margin on less price-sensitive products;
• Respond faster to direct marketplace competition.

Logical goals on Google Shopping

• achieve a better click position without unnecessary margin reduction;
• Making advertising costs yield a better return;
• only sharper prices on products where price is a true conversion driver;
• distinguish between traffic products and profit products.

Common mistake: treating every product the same

Not every product has the same role. Some items are there to drive in traffic. Others, however, must generate a return. If you treat these two groups with the same pricing logic, your strategy will automatically become weaker.

For example, think of:

• best-selling comparable products;
• accessories with higher margin;
• seasonal products;
• products with little direct competition;
• products with limited stock.

The optimal price response can therefore differ per channel, even for exactly the same item.

How to manage smarter per channel

1. First determine your lower limits

Good repricing starts not with lowering, but with setting limits. Set clear minimum margins per product or product group. This prevents you from buying revenue on bol.com or Google Shopping that yields little net return.

2. Work with product rolls

Label products, for example, as visibility, revenue, margin, or inventory reduction. This way, you can apply different rules per channel without having to manually assess everything.

3. Differentiate between relevant competitors

Not every competitor is a reference. On bol.com, you might primarily want to respond to serious providers with comparable delivery times. On Google Shopping, you are more likely to look at the parties that are actually taking your clicks and conversions.

4. Also increase when the market allows

Many entrepreneurs primarily associate dynamic pricing with price reductions. However, price steering only truly works well if you also dare to automatically raise prices when competitors are sold out, raise their prices, or become less visible.

5. Measure not only revenue, but also margin and channel return

A channel that generates more revenue is not automatically the best channel. You want to know where your margin remains healthiest, where price changes really have an effect, and where increased visibility actually yields a profit.

Practical example

Suppose you sell a popular air fryer accessory. On bol.com, there are eight sellers with small price differences, and buy box visibility is important. There, a competitive price of EUR 24,95 might make sense to remain competitive.

On Google Shopping, however, it appears that your webshop with good reviews and a strong product page also converts well at EUR 26,95. If you stick to EUR 24,95 everywhere, you are sacrificing margin on Google Shopping unnecessarily.

The difference seems small, but at scale, this becomes exactly the kind of optimization that makes repricing profitable.

How do SlimstePrijs this practically supports

SlimstePrijs helps webshops not only to track prices, but more importantly to create better pricing rules. By examining competition, margin, and channel goal together, you can:

• respond faster to market changes;
• apply different logic per product group;
• Treat price pressure on bol.com differently than on Google Shopping;
• prevent unnecessary price reductions;
• Utilize price headroom as soon as the market allows.

With this, you shift from roughly well-priced everywhere to commercially smarter priced per channel.

Ready to see how Snowflake works?

bol.com and Google Shopping both appear to be price-sensitive channels, but the underlying pricing logic is not the same. Anyone working with a uniform pricing strategy on both platforms usually leaves money on the table—whether in margin, visibility, or conversion.

A stronger approach is to determine what a product needs to do per channel and align your pricing rules accordingly. Then, dynamic pricing does not become a race to the bottom, but a way to grow in a controlled manner.

Do you want to manage your webshop more intelligently on bol.com and Google Shopping without manually adjusting prices daily? Then check out our repricer software , the options on the pricing page , and our existing explanation of pricing for Google Shopping.