March 2012Online at www.postaltechnologyinternational.com

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Over the past several years we have noticed the increasing importance of

e-commerce, due to a greater broadband and internet penetration, wider product choice, convenience and often better bargains. The delivery of these online purchases represents a great opportunity for postal operators and express carriers. A few years ago the carriers were not particularly interested in the B2C segment due to its highly demanding and customer-intensive nature.

Why is there now so much buzz about e-commerce? This article will focus on presenting the situation in Poland, but the situation is similar in other countries.

According to Euromonitor, Polish e-commerce was worth E3.7 billion in 2010. Over the years it has experienced double-digit growth annually. The expectation is that it will have increased by 17 percent in 2011 to reach almost E4.5 billion. The prospect is very promising. The percentage of online retail sales in the entire retail sales and purchases sector accounts for only 3.1 percent. In many Western European countries that ratio already reached 7-8 percent.

It is difficult to count precisely the number of e-stores offering online shopping as new ones are being opened every day – and some are also being closed – but there are estimated to be 10,000. Sklepy24.pl, a leading directory of e-shops in Poland, has 7,263 registered e-retailers on its website.

The B2B segment continues to play an important role in the market, accounting for 75-80 percent of the total market. However the B2C segment is growing at higher pace in terms of volume and value. The B2C segment is estimated to grow by 25 percent per year in terms of value, with B2B at nine percent.

It is interesting to mention that about 50 percent of total Polish e-commerce is generated by Allegro, the largest Polish online auction site. The platform has 13 million registered accounts, with 700,000 selling as well as buying. The majority of

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March 2012www.PostalTechnologyInternational.com

e-stores use auction sites as an additional revenue channel.

ho is the typical Polish e-consumer?Poland has a population of 38.2 million, of which 22.45 million (58 percent) are internet users. That number has doubled since 2007. There are an estimated 8.5 million e-customers, 47 percent of whom are aged 25-44 and live in medium-size and large cities. They are both men (54 percent) and women (46 percent) mostly educated to at least secondary level (74 percent) and their wages are average plus. Almost 40 percent spend less than E250 annually on e-shopping.

A survey of 6,296 consumers undertaken by Sklepy24.pl gives some interesting insight into that social group. Just over 57 percent of respondents purchase goods over the internet at least twice a year, and 30 percent do so several times a month.

The main reasons given for shopping online are speed and comfort, as well as

lower prices compared with traditional stores. Other reasons to do online shopping are the opportunity to compare various products before the purchase and the ability to buy hard-to-find products.

E-retailers in PolandBehind the majority of e-retailers are small businesses. Over 73 percent of them employ no more than five people. Forty-eight percent also run a traditional store in their city of origin. The average basket value usually does not exceed E71. The most popular orders are: up to E12 – nine percent; E12-14 – 23.6 percent; E14-48 – 29 percent; E48-71 – 14.1 percent. For payment, customers use bank transfers (70.3 percent) and COD (69.6 percent) as the preferred methods of payment, with 28.5 percent using credit or debit cards – an 11 percent increase over 2009.

Despite the relatively large number of e-stores they are often considered to be a secondary source of income, with 55 percent of them having fewer than 100

orders a month. Only 13 percent of e-retailers have more than 500 orders a month. Stores’ monthly incomes amount to: up to E2,400 – 39.5 percent; E2,400-24,000 – 46.8 percent; over E24,000 – 13.7 percent.

Multichannel strategies play an important role. Almost 70 percent of e-shops use auction sites as their sales channel, with 44 percent using traditional stores and 45 percent wholesale. It is worth mentioning that almost 10 percent of e-retailers used group sales such as Groupon, Gruper.pl and Citeam.

How do we deliver? Finally a few words about delivery methods in Poland. Eighty-seven percent of e-stores have an option for courier delivery and 76 percent offer the national postal operator. The courier option is usually chosen because of faster delivery and less likelihood of damage. Sixty-eight percent of customers choose delivery by a courier service. Forty-four percent of parcels are delivered as postal parcels. It is interesting to note that in 2008 those proportions were reversed. InPost has noticed a five percent increase in popularity and currently its flagship service for e-commerce, namely easyPack by InPost, is used by 9.65 percent of e-stores.

How can you to enter the e-commerce market with easyPack by InPost, an innovative last mile delivery solution? Our approach to cooperate with e-retailers in attracting consumers will be presented in the next issue of Postal Technology International.

I T Marcin Bosacki, Head of International, InPostTel: +48 506 009 735Email: mbosacki@inpost.plWeb: www.inpost.pl

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Other popular segments are: children (13%), books and music (12%), hobbies (11%) and sports (10%)

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