Publisher Speaks: Nina, co-founder of BOETIEK.co.uk

TradeTracker regularly puts various publishers, advertisers or media agencies in the spotlight. This time in the spotlight: BOETIEK.co.uk a publisher website that shows the collections of affiliated boutiques. Nina van Boxtel, co-founder of BOETIEK tells us more about the company and how they use affiliate. 

Who are you, where do you work and what is your position?
I’m Sophie – Co-founder of BOETIEK.CO.UK – a platform that supports the growth of local shops and sustainable brands online. My business partner, Nina and I, started the Dutch version of the platform in October 2020 and a year later we launched in the UK. 

Can you tell us more about BOETIEK?
BOETIEK is the online boutique. Our platform displays products from independent retailers, British brands and sustainable shops all in one place. We’re a comparison website that supports retailers to expand their online reach and generate more transactions through their webshop. 

The idea behind BOETIEK started in Amsterdam, during the pandemic. In April 2020, during the first lockdown, Nina and I realised that our favourite boutiques and physical shops were struggling as they were so used to focusing on their offline footfall.

Two lockdowns and a mandatory closure of physical shops took its toll on retailers in the Netherlands so this drove us to launch a platform to support indy shops. BOETIEK translates to boutique in English- and so the concept was born. Alongside supporting boutiques, we also want to provide a platform for sustainable brands. It’s no secret what impact fashion (and more) is having on the environment so we are creating a space where Shoppers can shop small or sustainable to support people and the planet

What are the possibilities for advertisers via Boetiek.nl?
Our comparison website displays products from all the different shops connected to BOETIEK. We use a product feed to connect BOETIEK to a shop which provides us with all the product info we need to make sure the data is up to date. 

Next to that, we’re big on content and storytelling. Our platform provides extra exposure opportunities so that Shoppers can find out about special collections or promotions that are running- in the form of banners and advertorials. We’ve also started to do some extra support sessions for shops that need help with creating a product feed or setting up their online marketing campaigns such as Google Shopping.

How do you ensure that you do not lose your current market position in a competitive market?
We’ve nestled ourselves into the niche of supporting independent retailers and promoting sustainable shopping. We provide a platform for small and sustainable brands to grow and Shoppers are always on the lookout for the next best thing through our Discovery platform. 

We know that shopping more sustainably will play an increasingly important role in beauty, interior and especially fashion. Our platform is geared up so that Shoppers can find slow fashion, made from eco-friendly materials, that can be found as easily as possible- these can be found through our Conscious filters. We’re also adding vintage collections to the marketplace- we’re becoming the one-stop platform for modern shoppers online.

Affiliate Marketing in General

What trends have you observed in online marketing in recent years?
More small-medium brands are tapping into affiliate marketing or performance marketing. When you speak to big brands about their affiliate marketing you’ll often find that discount and cashback websites are their top publishers. When it comes to smaller brands, it’s more important that they get their brand name out there through comparison websites such as BOETIEK, content publishers. These days you’ll also see more overlap between affiliate and savvy Influencers who measure their performance and generate their own commission.  

We think that performance marketing will become more important to small-medium shops as it’s a means to broaden their reach and leverage their growth against another platform. It’s a win-win situation for us and the shops as growth for us in turn means growth for them too! One of the key benefits of partnering with platforms similar to BOETIEK is growing your brands worth. By being more frequently mentioned in articles or through social platforms, small-medium brands are able to boost their traffic and in turn conversions online.

What challenges do you most often face as a publisher?
The biggest issue we face as a comparison website / marketplace is the quality of the product feeds. To make sure we’re displaying the best possible info to our users, we have quite a few requirements for how a feed should be structured and what data to provide- from a detailed category path to stock information to the materials used. 

When a feed isn’t up to scratch, it means that a Shop’s products aren’t easily found through the website. We have found that when starting up with shops that are new to affiliate marketing, it can take quite a bit of time to make sure their feeds are at the quality we need. That’s why we have started offering our services to support advertisers generate high quality product feeds- we have years of experience and know what’s needed to ensure a product feed performs well.

What type of advertisers do you work best with, and why?
BOETIEK currently covers fashion, beauty and interior. We are creating a space for small-medium brands to advertise so these usually perform the best! We recently added a vintage marketplace to the platform too- so anything that helps Shoppers shop more sustainably online! 

Promotions

Do you have any extra exposure options for advertisers?
Certainly! We know that shops have new collections or promotions that they want to shout about and you can do this through BOETIEK. We have a mixture of tools or conversions or brand awareness. You can increase your product position in the search engine, book banners across the website or an SEO-friendly article. Get in touch with Nina or I if your shop has a story to tell! 

What can we expect from you in the near future?
We are currently busy rolling out the platform for England and Germany (www.boetiek.co.uk / www.boetiek.de). We should be filled up with products by the end of the year! Next to that, we’re working on our backend, some UX improvements and focusing even more on local retailers and sustainable brands within our shop portfolio, such as Komodo from Tradetracker. We also want to expand our consultancy branch further – as we’ve noticed that there’s a lot of demand from retailers for help with online marketing campaigns, social media or generating a well-functioning product feed for more comparison shopping channels.