Click and buy

E-commerce market in Poland is getting better and better. And although we still spend a small amount of money on the Internet, choosing cheaper items, the growth rate of this sector is impressive.

According to “Rzeczpospolita” the most recent data from Euromonitor International say that last year the Poles spent 6.5 billion zł on the Internet, that makes more than 16% growth compared to previous year. The forecast for this year assumes a slightly slower growth rate-15.4%. but it is the result of a higher base. Analysts expect the fact that in e-shops this year we will spend about 1 billion zł more and it will have the amount of 7.5 billion zł. Euromonitor numbers do not include the results of the auction services. However, as it was written in “Rzeczpospolita”, Allegro service, decisive leader in this market, in 2010 expected the growth of sales made through its service by 15.6 %, up to 7.4 billion zł. On the web we spend over 15 billion zł, and these data do not include the purchase of tickets or different types of services.

Research of the Centre for Retail Research, reported that last year a statistical Pole bought at average 16 cheap products(cheaper than 20 euros) online, which gave 367 euros. With this result we are placed on the last, sixteenth place in the European Union. Meanwhile, the average European has acquired 25 of them in the network spending up to 1072 euros.

Euromonitor International report says that by far, the most popular online product is the electronic equipment. Last year, this segment has gained 14.3 % (was worth 1.5 billion zł), and the forecast for this year envisages a further 8.3 %. Neo24.pl marked marked the increase of sales in every month of 2010. The culmination was of course in December, when the rise reached about 40 percent, compared to 2009. What’s more, compared to November 2010, this difference was 20 percent and was due to both the Christmas period and the size of the offer. Representatives of other shops selling electronics, confirm that although the price is still obviously the main attraction, however customers also pay attention to the advice and the ability to buy in installments.

Other categories of products also gain. Sales of movies, books, music and games in 2010 in e-shops increased by 23 percent, which is supposed to be 24.9 percent and for this type of products we will spend 817 million zł. And what about food products? The forecasts assume that this year we will spend on them almost 300 million zł. This segment is growing at a rapid pace, the turnover of shops grows up to 100 percent a year. The strong market position in e-commerce network have Peter and Paul and Alma, which are present in the largest urban areas. This year, Bomi has got an ambitious development plan.

Native e-commerce is growing at a rapid pace, but the Poles in network expenditure when compared with other European nations are much weaker. Record holders are the British, who in 2010 spent 52.1 billion euros, Germany 39.2 billion and 31.2 billion French. As for the total budget for the Internet for one person (not only on purchases of goods, but any expenditure on the network), the British are also the leaders with the amount of 861.6 euros. In Poland it is still only 87.7 euros.