Poland has quite a huge market for all kind of e-business owners. Located in Central Europe, with rapidly growing all kind of e-commerce metrics Poland is set to take over the e-commerce industry.

That’s why in this blog post we’re going to focus on what exactly is going on in Poland and why taking an interest in this country is worth your time.

Let’s get started!

First, a bit of important facts:

• Area: 312,679 km2
• Population: around 40,000,000
• Currency: PLN (Polish zloty)
• Language: Polish
• Capital: Warsaw
• Time zone: CET/CEST
• Internet TLD: .pl

E-commerce facts

The Polish e-commerce industry is growing really fast (between 25 and 30 percent year-on year). That’s the fastest-growing e-commerce market in EU and according to data presented by Polskie Badania Internetu. Polish e-commerce generated PLN 21.5 bln in 2012, which accounts for 3.8 per cent in the whole trade sector (forecasts says that the market’s value could grown by over 20% y/y to PLN 26 bln in 2013). Those are quite large numbers.

Internet-mediated sales are becoming a more and more important branch of the Polish retail sector: in 2012, e-commerce share in the total retail value likely amounted to 3.8%, up from 3.1% in 2011, according to data an estimates by SMB, Kelkoo and Forrester as quoted in the report E-commerce. The trend should be continued in 2013: the e-commerce market’s share in total retail sales should easily exceed 4% , strategy director at agency Bold Brand Commerce Marcin Piwowarczyk said quoted by Interaktywnie.com.

More information regarding this subject, check out:

• Forecasts for Polish e-commerce market in 2013 – the market’s value may grow by over 20% y/y to PLN 26 bln
• Poland is the fastest growing ecommerce market in the EU
• E-commerce grows in Poland faster than the whole trade sector

Do I need to have an entity located in Poland to sell there?

No. You are able to sell your online products and services in Poland without having a company located in this country.

Polish law

Poland is a member of European Union, so it’s important to check European Union’s directives (which have to be achieved by all member countries), as well as Polish national law. Remember to respect all the aspects of these laws (e.g. 10 days for sending back a product).

Language

The national language in Poland is Polish. However you shouldn’t have problems using English to communicate in Poland – this language is the most popular foreign language in Poland and lots of people know at least basics of it.

Online payments

Poland is a specific country in regards to online payments. If you want to sell there, you need to be prepared that offering payments (only) through credit cards won’t be enough for buyers. The most popular payment method here are wire transfers (automated wire transfers, often called pay-by-link). So, if you want to gain paying customers from Poland, I would recommend implementing these payment methods on your website:

• Polish wire transfers (pay-by-links)
• Debit and credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Maestro)
• PayPal – optional

Biggest Polish web companies/websites

• Allegro.pl – biggest Polish auction site
• Onet.pl, Wirtualna Polska, O2, Gazeta.pl – the most popular web portals

Hot startups (and not only startups) from Poland

• Audioteka
• Estimote
• Brand24
• UXPin
• Koszulkowo
• FilesTube
• GetResponse
• Nozbe
• Filmaster
• GoldenLine
• SoTrender
• Base

Social media in Poland

• Facebook – the most popular social media website in Poland
• Twitter – not so popular, but growing
• Instagram – like Twitter
• LinkedIn and GoldenLine
• Nasza Klasa – Polish biggest social media website; was very popular, now it’s still huge, but not as much as before
• YouTube

My comments

Enormous (but not as easy to tackle) market. Sometimes it can be really hard to compete with Polish companies as a foreign one (e.g. eBay in Poland has failed), but of course it’s possible and worth a try. The Polish e-commerce market is rapidly growing and it’s worth to fight for being visible on this market. What’s really important is that Polish buyers like to buy things online.

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