How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect online sales in Poland?
Author:
Sylwia Zimowska
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The last two years have turned the world economy upside down – the lack of freedom of movement has had a negative impact on tourism, transport and the service sector. But one of the industries not only resisted this crisis, but has seen marked growth – the e-commerce sector. What has changed in the shopping habits of Poles and what products do we buy online most?
Until the outbreak of the pandemic, Poles’ interest in online shopping grew at a slow pace resulting from, among others, from the adolescent young generation brought up in the era of universal access to the Internet and the general progress of digitization in the country. In 2019, this form of shopping was used by 62% of domestic internet users. According to the latest edition of the Gemius report “E-Commerce in Poland”, in 2021 already 77% of Polish internet users went online at least once.
Among the statistical Polish customers buying online, the dominant group are women aged over 35, with higher education, living in one of the largest cities and describing their financial situation as average or good. However, since 2019, the share of seniors (people over 50) in this area has increased by 2%, i.e. a group that has so far been reluctant to look at internet services. But what exactly made online sales more and more successful?
Food with home delivery
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On average, PLN 188 we spend on grocery shopping online.
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We love shoes!
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We spend PLN 201 on average on footwear from e-stores.
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Clothes without trying on
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We spend an average of PLN 198 on clothes, accessories and wardrobe accessories.
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Why do we buy online?
Undoubtedly, the pandemic, and hence the resulting restrictions in traditional trade, had a large impact on the purchasing decisions of Poles. Since many stationary stores were closed, buyers switched to the online form – the sellers themselves also had to quickly adapt to the new realities and offer such opportunities to their customers. A Gemius study found that 33% of consumers buy more online now than before the outbreak, and 30% buy more products online than in previous years. As many as 15% of respondents admitted that the pandemic prompted them to reach for products online that they had never bought online before.
One might suppose that the biggest reason for such a decision was the issue of security. After all, non-contact home delivery options have minimized the risk of contracting a virus while shopping. From their own observations, surely everyone has noticed more than once that not all stationary stores dealt properly with customers who did not respect the restrictions. However, this reason was mentioned among the respondents only in fourth place.
Poles love online shopping mainly because of its 24/7 availability, completely independent of the current pandemic situation. Secondly, they appreciated the speed of this form of shopping. No commuting or standing in traffic jams, no looking for a product on the shelves and no waiting in line at the checkout – e-shopping is a huge time saver. Time, but also money. 44% of respondents chose online shopping because the products offered online turned out to be cheaper than in brick-and-mortar stores.
What do we most like to buy online?
As we can read in the Gemius reports, for many years, among the categories of products that Poles order online most often, clothing, footwear and cosmetics have dominated. Books and CDs as well as audio and video devices and household appliances are also popular.
In the era of the pandemic, however, the interest in pharmaceuticals, sportswear and goods from the food industry has increased. The latter type of products has already been reached by 35% of respondents, i.e. 5% more than in 2019. It is very possible that it was caused not only by domestic isolation, but also by the ban on Sunday trading, which does not apply to online stores. We are also more likely to use building materials (28% compared to 24% in 2019) – certainly many Poles have used forced insulation to renovate a house or apartment.
And which of the products are less popular due to the pandemic? The category of tickets to cinemas and cultural events dropped drastically (25% compared to 49% in 2019) – no wonder, after all, cinemas were closed for months, and concerts and other mass events were canceled. The same applies to online bookings and travels (28% compared to 40% in 2019).
The ROPO effect, i.e. searching for information about a product on the Internet, but buying it in stationary stores most often concerns the category of building and finishing materials.
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The effect of reverse ROPO, i.e. buying a product in an e-shop that is first carefully examined in a traditional store, most often affects electronics / household appliances and footwear.
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What motivates us to choose an online store?
According to the KRS data for 2021, there are already 51,000 online stores registered in Poland (6,300 more than in the previous year). But what are consumers guided by when looking for the best store from this sea of offers? According to Gemius reports, the pandemic did not affect our motivation. For Poles, the most important thing is the attractive price of the product, low delivery costs and positive previous experiences. We also pay attention to opinions about a given store, the possibility of payment on delivery, as well as clear information about returns and complaints.
Against the background of these data, it is hardly surprising that Allegro invariably dominates among the most recognizable brands among all e-services by Poles – it is mentioned spontaneously by 86% of respondents. It is in this marketplace that we can quickly find the cheapest offer in one place, choose a store that has a reputation and positive opinions (even the Super Seller icon helps in this), and even verify where we will get attractive discounts for the same product, e.g. in the form of the Allegro Coin, which reduces the cost of subsequent purchases. In addition, the same consistent interface makes it much faster to find more detailed information about the return policy or shipping time from various sellers.
Professionals: How to become a seller of the 21st century?
A trend that will never be stopped
The pandemic changed our lives and habits. However, does this mean that interest in e-commerce will drop when everything is back to normal? There is no indication of that. First of all, new technologies favor the development of e-commerce: online payments are becoming safer, the number of self-service machines for collecting parcels is growing, and virtual fitting rooms for clothes or jewelry using the AR method are no longer surprising.
Secondly, today it is much cheaper to open an e-shop than a stationary one, not to mention the possibility of free registration on a marketplace platform such as Allegro. A young entrepreneur, by offering his goods on Allegro, has a chance to reach 21 million users (so many people visit the platform a month!) – at the same time, so many buyers do not even visit the most popular shopping malls in the capital. We can safely assume that e-commerce will attract more sellers than the stationary alternative.
In addition, as many as 57% of respondents in the latest Gemius study admitted that even if the pandemic situation normalized, they would also shop online as often, and 41% of people who return to brick-and-mortar stores with some of their purchases will still be eager to use the offers of e-stores.
In Poland, only 23% of all Internet users do not buy anything online. For most of them (31%), the biggest barrier is the inability to see the product before buying. While there is no substitute for physical contact, the most common elements that would persuade non-buyers to choose the product online were lower delivery costs, discount codes, lower product prices and faster delivery. All this, as we can see from the history of recent years, has significantly improved, so it can be assumed that it will also happen in the near future, which will result in a further increase in interest in the e-commerce market in Poland.
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