Mediahuis adds marketplace model to its online stores
Mediahuis België and Mediahuis Nederland are taking an important next step in their e-commerce strategy by further developing their online stores with a marketplace model. Building on the existing benefit shop model - where Mediahuis promotes deals and special offers through its news brands - professional third-party vendors will now be able to offer their products on these same platforms and sell directly to consumers. With this move, Mediahuis becomes one of the first European media companies to roll out a marketplace model across multiple news brands and markets.
Mediahuis reaches more than 6 million consumers daily with brands such as Nieuwsblad, Gazet van Antwerpen, De Standaard and Het Belang van Limburg in Flanders, and De Telegraaf, De Limburger and Dagblad van het Noorden in the Netherlands.
Building on that scale and strong brand trust, Mediahuis offers sales partners access to an environment where e-commerce and content reinforce each other.
A strategic step
Marketplaces have grown into a key model within e-commerce: globally, 67% of online retail sales now take place via marketplace platforms*. Marketplaces offer consumers the advantage of accessing a broader range of products from different suppliers via a single e-commerce platform. For businesses, they are attractive because they enable rapid expansion of product ranges without the need to purchase or hold inventory.
With this development, Mediahuis is aligning itself with this evolution, while remaining focused on its core strength: bringing together relevant offers, trusted news brands and a large audience reach.
Sales supported by media campaigns in news brands
Where traditional marketplaces focus on maximizing product choice and offering the broadest possible assortment, Mediahuis places the emphasis on carefully curated deals, seasonal campaigns and quality brands. Mediahuis deliberately opts for a campaign-driven model, whereby offers - aligned with the interests of the readers of its various news brands - are promoted for a limited period through its media channels.
“Unlike traditional marketplaces, we do not simply offer partners an additional sales channel,” says Aline Delnoy, Director E-commerce Mediahuis Belgium. “Our strength lies in the combination of reach and the trust associated with our news brands. We provide a platform where relevant offers are actively supported by our media reach, enabling brands to connect with new customers in a targeted way.”
One platform in the Netherlands: favoshop.nl
Mediahuis Nederland is now bringing all its online stores together under a single new label: favoshop.nl.
“With Favo, we are bringing together our e-commerce activities under one single umbrella, while preserving the strong connection with our brands,” says Ben Mulder, Director E-commerce Mediahuis Netherlands. “The offer-led shops of our news brands will retain their distinct identities, while a centralised platform enables us to operate more efficiently and scale our activities. At the same time, this creates opportunities to develop new e-commerce propositions for radio stations and digital platforms within Mediahuis.”
In Flanders, the online stores will remain, as they are today, linked to individual news titles.
Scalable technical infrastructure and first partners
For their technical infrastructure, both Mediahuis België and Mediahuis Nederland rely on Mirakl and integrator ChannelEngine, two widely used solutions for marketplace integrations. This setup allows sales partners to connect easily to the Mediahuis marketplaces.
''Media companies across Europe are sitting on something most retailers spend years trying to build: deep audience trust. What makes Mediahuis stand out is their decision to scale this into a commerce strategy: not on one brand, but across their news portfolio of Mediahuis België and Mediahuis Nederland. They're not just launching a marketplace. They're building a new revenue model on top of editorial relationships that already exist'' says Marc Teulières, General Manager Customer Succes EMEA & B2B Global at Mirakl.
The first partners are currently being onboarded, with a focus on categories such as home & living, lifestyle, health and seasonal campaigns.
Mediahuis will continue to expand the platform in the coming months, with additional partners and a growing assortment.
Brands interested in selling via the news brands of Mediahuis België and Mediahuis Nederland can register via:
For news brands of Mediahuis België: marketplace.mediahuis.be
For news brands of Mediahuis Nederland: favoshop.nl/aanmelden
For more information:
Marketplace Mediahuis België: Aline Delnoy, Director E-commerce Mediahuis België: [email protected].
Marketplace Mediahuis Nederland: Ben Mulder, Director E-commerce Mediahuis Nederland: [email protected].
