Annual blog: a look back at 2024 and plenty of new plans
The year has flown by again. What many things we tackled with the WebwinkelKeur team! We welcomed new colleagues and said goodbye to others. And because we are brimming with new ideas, it is high time for the annual look back and forward! Our mission is unchanged: to help online retailers run their businesses successfully. With tools to show reliability, so consumers know where they can store safely online. This is what we will continue to focus on in the coming year.
New building
When we moved to our current location in Roombeek, we already knew: There was a plan for a new building that would fit our company size perfectly. To keep prices as low as possible, we are very keen on our costs. That's where the desire to have our own premises fits in. And of course it's also great fun to design your own building and make it your own. We are therefore very happy to announce that we will be moving again in early 2026, on the same street! The building on the right corner is going to be it. With the highlight being the kitchen and consultation room on the 2nd floor with roof terrace. We are already looking forward to the cozy Friday afternoon BBQs!
2024 in figures
In the past year the membership has grown by about 330 web shops. With now 9,830 members, the magical milestone of 10,000 members is now very close. Our own review score is currently a 9.5 and WebwinkelKeur is still widely recommended. Super proud of our team that we manage to keep this up while continuing to develop. You sent a total of 9.5 million (!) review requests in 2024 and 1578 disputes were filed. We mediated in 971 of them because the merchant and customer could not work things out together. In almost all cases that mediation was successful, only 29 cases were submitted to the independent dispute commission DigiDispute.
Mailflow
Since last year, all members receive a series of mails with tips on how to get more out of your membership or what to pay attention to as a webshop. These mails are well read and we regularly receive positive reactions. Definitely something we will continue to do in the future.
New registration procedure
The sign-up workflow has been greatly simplified. Besides an easier onboarding, we also see the approval rate rising slightly. This also involves quite a bit of "manual" work, as all approvals are done by our team themselves (real people, that is!). Because we are now a little shorter, we manage to get more shops approved. That means more shops that comply with the rules and are allowed to carry the hallmark!
Valued Shops
One of the larger projects of the past year is the multilingual website valuedshops.com. More and more members are becoming active abroad. That calls for smarter tools that support multilingualism. And a website where foreign consumers can see what they can expect from our members. Valued Shops already existed, but with the new website we are now also actively going public. On valuedshops.com we are already showing the new house style to foreign consumers and webshops. I am very happy with the result and we are now seeing more applications from foreign webshops to carry our seal of approval. With the addition of Valued Shops, the PRO-package has gained more body and as a member you can now improve your turnover abroad by offering more confidence.
Translated reviews
Part of selling internationally is also showing reviews in your visitor's language. With the help of AI we are currently translating all reviews of members with the PRO pack into English, German and French. This immediately makes a good impression as a webshop, even across the border. These translated reviews are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2025.
New widgets
We have redesigned all our widgets and banners. With a fresh new style and more customization options, this makes it even more fun to display your reviews and seal of approval within your shop. We are doing final user testing and expect to roll out the new widgets and banners in the coming month. To make the implementation a bit easier as well, the necessary adjustments will be made within the dashboard. In short, log in soon and see what we have developed for you! Also keep an eye on our newsletter. There you can read all about the new developments.
Product reviews
Meanwhile, the number of members using product reviews has grown to 750 shops. In my opinion still far too low a number, because product reviews add so much to your shop. We are therefore investigating the possibilities to further lower the threshold for this. Many shops balk at the idea of having only a few product reviews for a handful of products. More on this soon! Since a few months the product reviews are also available for CCV Shop users. You can read here which web store software you can use product reviews with.
More with video and podcasts
You've probably already seen me on various talk shows and webshop visits. In the near future we are going to create some new video formats. The goal is to quickly inform you about legal issues, marketing improvements and the optimal use of available tools. We are also going to create regular podcasts, in which experts in the field of e-commerce share their knowledge and tips with you. You can already watch the first WebwinkelKeur Podcast on YouTube and listen on Spotify, and soon the second one will come online.
Getting to know members better
With the live broadcast and visits to members, we like to show who our members are and how they grow their online store. We will continue this in the coming year as well. Besides great exposure for members, this is a great way to meet you and understand better and better what is important and valuable to you. Do you have a story that is of interest to other members? For example, do you sell a niche product, operate internationally, or do you approach your marketing in a special way? And would you like to collaborate on a video item or broadcast? Let us know and email info@webwinkelkeur.nl. I can't wait to hit the road again and hear your stories!
Technical developments in 2024.
-NFC cards: With an NFC card at your physical point of sale, customers can very easily leave a review. Matter of holding their phone against the card (or sticker) with NFC chip. This opens your member page where they can easily leave a review. Read more >
-Integration for Ecwid: The WebwinkelKeur integration is available for Ecwid and can now also be found in Ecwid's App Store. Read more >
-Integration for Wix: The full WebwinkelKeur integration is available for Wix. Read more >
-LiveChat: You can now easily reach us via LiveChat. And this is being used quite a bit! In 2024 the customer service team made more than 5200 calls via LiveChat.
Collaboration with partners
In the coming period we are going to take a slightly more critical look at our partnerships. We want to focus primarily on services that are really very close to our own added value. Think of legal protection in Germany, customized General Terms and Conditions or translation of reviews. These services match our own offerings and make the whole package stronger.
Photo shoot and Freemibo with members
What started out as a small call for a photo soon turned into a cozy Friday afternoon drink complete with professional photo shoot. Because, of course, 23 photos is much more fun than one! Every few weeks we change the photo on the homepage and publish the growth story of the photographed shop owner. Photos also adorn our building and trade show booths. These are the people we do it for. Want your picture taken, too? Saturday, February 8, between 12:00 and 18:00, we will organize the second edition. This time at our friends at Sipack in Heemskerk. Sign up via info@webwinkelkeur.nl and don't forget to bring your favorite product!
Renewal webwinkelkeur.nl
With Valued Shops we already have the framework largely in place. In the coming months we also want to migrate the website webwinkelkeur.nl to the new CMS and the new style. Of course we will immediately take the opportunity to optimize the knowledge base and the blog section. The members page is also on the list. The first sketches are already ready. One of the intended improvements is to combine the reviews and the securities on one page. This is better for findability and interaction with visitors.
Trip to Sofia
Last year, the entire team went to visit our colleagues in Bulgaria. Besides a number of inspiration sessions, good food and a lot of fun, we also undertook an interesting escape game right through Sofia. On the fourth day everyone sat exhausted on the plane back with beautiful memories and hilarious anecdotes. We should definitely do this again with our new colleagues.
Changes within the team
Because yes, there have been some changes in the team again. Connor left us and Sandra also found a new challenge after more than 8 years. In July, Daan resigned as director of Trustprofile. After the enormous contribution he made to the development of WebwinkelKeur he will focus on debt relief outside our organization. Thank you all for the great cooperation! Fortunately, we have found two new top people to join our club. In customer service, Maud has taken over Connor's spot, and how. We are super happy with her. She picks it up well and provides a lot of extra atmosphere and fun in the department. A bull's eye! Lynn replaces Sandra. After an extensive selection and many interviews, she stood out. We are looking forward to our first work experiences together. Last year we also welcomed our first intern: Tammy showed that we can learn a lot from each other and currently Dewi is doing an internship. In April we have another legal internship position available, let us know if you are interested in it!
Important legal changes
In the legal field, these were the most important topics last year:
-Right of Reparation: An agreement has been reached within the European Union on the right of repair for consumers. It should become easier for consumers to have appliances such as a phone, refrigerator or television repaired. This will prevent the unnecessary disposal of appliances that could last for some time after repair. Read more >
-Product Safety Regulation: A new product safety regulation will apply in the European Union to products placed on the market from Dec. 13, 2024. There will be stricter rules for online marketplaces and increased enforcement. Read more >
-Order button: It was already a legal requirement to clearly state at the order button that the customer is entering into a payment obligation when ordering. In 2024 this has become a fixed part of the inspection requirements of WebwinkelKeur. Read more >
Cooperation with EHI Geprüfter Shops & Becom
Members regularly say that they think our system works so nicely. After the redesign of the dashboard, I think this has only gotten better. How cool is it that we are now also allowed to support two major foreign quality marks with our software. Members of both EHI and Becom get their profiles in the software we built. In addition, the review system is also available to them. With this cooperation we are building together a European standard for displaying a hallmark, various online securities and collecting and displaying reviews, all in one place. New collaborations with other European trustmarks are in the works, more on that later.
Trustprofile focuses on consumers
Not everyone knows that Trustprofile is part of WebwinkelKeur, but Trustprofile has been taking over the place of WebshopChecker for almost a year now. There is a lot of search for webshops within this platform. Of course all WebwinkelKeur members are automatically shown here with all available assurances, seals of approval and review scores. In addition, we have already checked more than 113,000 other domains within Europe and the counter continues to grow. Check if a shop is trustworthy at: Trustprofile.com.
Will we see you at the Webwinkel Vakdagen?
Last year we met many members during the photo shoot, BLOOM Event and Day of the Webshop. Next year, in addition to the photo shoot on February 8, the Webwinkel Vakdagen are already scheduled. There we will share a booth with Sipack. You can find us at booth 104 right after the entrance left around the corner. I would love to meet you there in person! On behalf of the whole team, I wish you a successful 2025! Kind regards, Frank Hautvast