Only 25% of Polish customers shop via the Internet

2010-06-21

According to a recent report by ReportLinker, in 2009 25% of Polish customers shopped online, as Rzeczpospolita reported. In Poland, every second Internet user shops on the net, while in Germany or the Scandinavian countries, 75% and 80% of Internet users shop online, respectively.
The number of people shopping online is low in Poland due to limited access to the Internet. According to the Net Track report published by Millward Brown SMG/KRC, by the end of 2009 around 50% of Poles were connected to the Internet. Among other obstacles to e-commerce are the psychological barriers. Poles want to see the product before purchasing it; therefore the retailers that own both the traditional and online stores such as Empik, Merlin or Euro have a dominant market position.
According to Monika Marianowicz, a spokeswoman of Empik, quoted by the newspaper, 80% of customers choose the option to pay and collect the products ordered online in the traditional store.
In 2010, Poles are expected to spend PLN 17bn (€4.17bn) online, of which the transactions done via the auction portals account for 60% of revenues. The number of e-stores is estimated to grow by 27% to almost 10,000 in 2010.