Online shopping offers not only convenience, greater choice of products and ease of concluding transactions. Factors – such as the interpenetration of the online and offline worlds and the hybrid nature of various solutions introduced at an accelerated pace under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic – affect customer behaviour, generate innovations in e-commerce and permanently change the shape of the e-commerce industry.

Development of the Polish e-commerce market

Poland is one of the most dynamically growing European markets with a relatively high level of development of the digital economy. According to research conducted by Gemius, over 80% of the Polish population uses the Internet, and 73% makes purchases online (compared to 2019, this is an increase of 11%). It was estimated that the turnover from trade on the Polish Internet in 2020 would reach EUR 15 billion.

The analysis carried out by PwC shows that in 2026 the gross value of the Polish e-commerce market will be at the level of PLN 162 billion. The high rate of growth will continue for several years – in 2021, its value is predicted to reach 12% of the total retail sales value, in 2023, it will be already 16%. It is also estimated that the sales of food products and health and beauty products will grow the fastest.

Key innovations in e-commerce in Poland

Here are the most critical trends, changes, and innovations in e-commerce that affect the Polish online shopping industry’s shape. The solutions presented below relate to both the purchases themselves, as well as delivery and payments.

Express delivery

The click & collect service is an increasingly important order pickup channel in Poland, especially in groceries. It consists of ordering products in-store or via the application and then collecting them at a convenient time in the indicated place, most often in a stationary store. Online stores operating in the click & collect model have been launched in Poland by, among others, Stokrotka, SPAR and Żabka.

One of the important innovations in e-commerce in Poland was the introduction of solutions for delivering meals and grocery shopping using quick-commerce tools (such as Glovo, Uber and Everli). It is an on-demand courier service where the courier buys, picks up and delivers products ordered via a mobile application. Cooperation with Glovo was established in Poland, among others, by Carrefour and Biedronka.

The Same Day Delivery / express delivery service has appeared in Polish e-commerce, not only in the food or catering industry. The CCC company tests this type of innovation in e-commerce, offering „CCC Express” solution – delivery of footwear ordered online within 90 minutes or even less from the moment of placing the order.

Contactless shopping

More and more transactions are made through mobile devices. Sales in mobile channels already account for over 50% of revenues in Polish online stores. A good store application on the customer’s phone is a massive advantage over the competition.

In this area, there are also solutions such as RWD or AMP and more advanced PWA applications (i.e., Internet applications that provide users with an experience similar to using a dedicated mobile app). Multi-channel sales become in Poland normal. Empik (Pay & Go) and Rossmann (Rosmann Go) already have their own solutions for shopping without going to the cash register. InPost introduced the box’s remote opening with the use of a mobile phone, the possibility of sending a parcel and posting it without printing the label.

In Poland, we can see the dynamic development of PUDO (Pick-Up and Drop-Off) services, i.e. sending and receiving parcels at specially designated points. The future will bring multi-brand points where it will be possible to use many courier companies and services that accompany online shopping, e.g. try on a dress ordered online right away and return it if we do not like it.

There are also solutions based on the voice assistant system, the so-called voice shopping. Only in 2017, more than 80 million voice devices were sold worldwide. And by the end of 2021, the entire category of these devices is expected to grow by as much as 84%. Such a solution was introduced, for example, by the Frisco.pl network.

In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most popular sales channels for small local stores and designers has become the sale of products live, during online transmission, the so-called live-commerce.

Payments

There are also innovations in e-commerce in payments – for example, new payment authentication methods. Users no longer need to remember passwords and may choose between fingerprint biometrics, facial recognition, and PIN usage.

One of the main trends is shortening the payment path and simplifying it is one click payment – a service that is slowly becoming a standard. There is also a growing interest in e-shopping with deferred payment terms – in instalments or shifting costs by 2-3 weeks after delivering the ordered goods.