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Originally published on April 20, 2021, updated May 23, 2023
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In March 2021, Poland became the newest country to get its own Amazon marketplace.
If you're hoping to take advantage of this new expansion and wondering how to sell on Amazon Poland from abroad, it’s best to get the lay of the land first. Below, we explain all the ins and outs of the Poland eCommerce market, including shopping behaviors, popular products, and your local competition.
When you're considering how to sell on Amazon Poland as an outsider, the first question you're probably asking is whether or not it's even worth it.
While that obviously depends on the specifics of your brand and product range, the market itself is quite healthy and viable. With Europe’s 11th-highest GDP and the world’s 19th-largest eCommerce market, Poland boasts a lucrative online opportunity for retailers far and wide.
Last year, Polish eCommerce hit just shy of 22 billion euros, or 100 billion złoty. That’s nearly twice the 11.64 billion euros it earned in 2019. Early reports from 2021 are positive as well, with predictions indicating that Polish eCommerce will continue to rise, though not quite as rapidly as in 2020.
Poland itself seems to be attuned to life online, with 77% of the population on the internet regularly. Of those online users, 80% shop online.
Moreover, Polish customers are comfortable shopping from mobile devices, with 65% of online shoppers using smartphones to complete purchases. In fact, one out of every three złoty spent in eCommerce comes from a mobile device — by 2025, mobile is predicted to make up half of the country’s eCommerce.
Just like every other market, Polish eCommerce has its own trends and nuances that any foreign retailer should consider before breaking in.
What are Poles buying online? Here are the six most popular product categories of Polish eCommerce, in order (we excluded ticket sales to better illustrate the retail market):
As you can see, fashion and apparel perform well, making up half of the categories on the list. International fashion and clothing brands should be first in line to consider expanding into Amazon Poland.
The same study also revealed why Polish shoppers love online shopping so much. As it turns out, 75% of Polish online customers like that you can shop online 24/7, while 72% said they’d rather not drive anywhere. Additionally, 68% like online shopping because they can take their time, while around 66% said prices are better online than in brick-and-mortar stores.
More to the point, how can retailers win over Polish online shoppers? Here are the top four incentives Polish shoppers look for and the percentages of shoppers who cited them:
Equally useful is what Polish shoppers don’t want. Among the problems with eCommerce in general, Polish shoppers listed long delivery times and high delivery costs as the worst.
Those two pet peeves, combined with the importance of lower shipping costs mentioned above, make delivery and shipping logistics crucial to your success in the Polish online market. Competing against local retailers with local storage facilities is going to be difficult from across an ocean.
Your best bet to satisfy Polish shoppers is to take advantage of a 3PL service, such as Amazon FBA, in Poland. Shipping from a Polish storage facility is the simplest way to compete with locals for lower shipping rates and faster shipping times.
Prior to the recent launch of Amazon Poland, if Polish shoppers wanted to buy from Amazon they mostly used the Polish-language version of Amazon Germany. Even so, the greatest competition came from within Poland.
Allegro is thought to be the Polish leader in eCommerce, making up more than 50% of the online market share. Starting as an auction site in the classic eBay style, Allegro has since grown into an all-purpose online department store that rivals Amazon itself. Because it’s so popular, it’s worth checking out to see what range of prices customers will expect with your own products.
Another competitor worth knowing is Ceneo, which is less of a marketplace and more of a price comparison service that lets you buy items directly. Considering that low prices were cited as a top concern among Polish shoppers (above), this site could give you a run for your money.
With the markups you’ll need to compensate for sending your items over to Poland, it’s going to be hard to compete with local brands on day-to-day goods. If you want to break into the Polish market, your best approach is to offer products that aren’t readily available from local stores — especially fashion items, which as we mentioned above are the hottest product category.
No matter how well you prepare, it’s always a little scary to expand into a new market. The good news is that you don’t have to go out there alone.
Here at eComEngine, we've updated our FeedbackFive software to include Poland's new Amazon.pl marketplace. The tool now supports 17 Amazon marketplaces and has professionally translated default email templates available in Polish and many other languages.
Why is this so important? Enticing product reviews are essential for Amazon success, but they’re difficult enough to get in your home country, let alone with cultural and language disparities. FeedbackFive handles that daunting task for you by sending out Amazon compliant seller feedback and review requests on your behalf. Since these don't carry over between international marketplaces, you'll want to prioritize getting local reviews instead of relying on top reviews shown from other countries as shoppers won't find these as relevant.
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