An online marketplace is a type of ecommerce website or app wherein products or service information is provided by many different sources.
Are you thinking of opening an online marketplaces in Poland for your business and wondering whether it will be worth the effort?
Absolutely. We shall provide you with all the necessary information to back this decision.
With a population of over 38 million, Poland is the sixth most densely populated nation in the European Union.
It has approximately 84.8% internet users and its online sales in 2020 amounted to $21.5 billion. 82.6% of Polish internet users shopped online in 2021 which is heartening information for ecommerce businesses.
Moreover, the outbreak of the pandemic has positively influenced the e-commerce market. The increase in sales and the number of newly established online marketplaces in Poland showcase the positive shift in consumer and seller behavior.
This indicates that a similar business can reap the full benefits of having an online marketplaces in Poland.
As per the e-commerce database, 15 million Poles purchased clothes and shoes from online shops making this product category the most popular one. The other categories that followed were cosmetics, including hair care, skincare products, and home electronics.
Popular Products In Online Marketplaces In Poland
- Fashion (45%)
- Electronics (19%)
- Toys, Hobby (15%)
- Furniture and Appliances (11%)
- Food and Personal Care (10%)
5 Online Marketplaces In Poland
The owner of a marketplace does not own any inventory. Their business is to present and provide other businesses inventory to a user so as to facilitate a transaction. Because online marketplaces offer absolute convenience of sitting at a comfortable location and shopping, during the past few years the number of marketplaces have exploded.
eBay is one of the best examples of an online marketplace, they sell anything and everything to everybody.
1. Allegro. pl
Total Visits – 221.7 Million
Annual Revenue – > $1.0 Billion
Category Rank – # 1 (Ecommerce & online shopping in Poland)
Country Rank – # 4 (Poland)
Allegro is among the most popular shopping platforms in Poland and has the distinction of being the largest ecommerce platform of European origin. Allegro operates on a marketplace model, whereby customers can buy whatever they need from over 135,000 merchants who are listed on the platform.
Merchants are allowed to list an unlimited number of products and offers on the platform. This immensely popular online marketplace in Poland has at least 22 million customers who visit them on a monthly basis to purchase goods of various categories. Allegro is one of the most recognized online website for Poles.
The company was founded in 1999 by Arjan Bakker. It has its headquarters in Poznan, Poland. The total funding that Allegro has received to date is $11M. The latest funding was raised on Nov 5, 2018, from a corporate round.
Business Model, Monetization Strategy & Revenue Generation
This platform creates an influential network effect that help both buyers and sellers which they refer to as “flywheel”. They generate revenue through third-party transactions between buyers and merchants.
Their monetization strategy is to charge merchants commissions and other related fees to facilitate transactions.
2. Olx. pl
Total Visits – 113.0 Million
Annual Revenue – $2.0 – $5.0 Million
Category Rank – # 2 (Ecommerce & online shopping in Poland)
Country Rank – # 9 (Poland)
This company was founded in 2006 by Fabrice Grinda and Alec Oxenford. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it has its roots in Argentina. They have operations in over 40 countries.
They are leading in their domain in countries such as Poland, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, Portugal, and Philippines. OLX has been funded by several firms such as Nexus Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
This was until Naspers a South African media group took over a major holding and then they procured the other investors. The total funding that Olx has received so far is $28.5M. The last funding round was held on May 07, 2009, off which $5 million was raised from Series B with the help of Nexus Venture Partners.
It is the world’s leading categorized platform in the online marketplace in Poland. It helps in connecting people to buy, sell and exchange used goods and services.
Business Model, Monetization Strategy & Revenue Generation
Their business model is scale-dependent. The portal has been designed in a way so that customers can buy and sell goods. OLX spends large amounts of money in order to enhance user traffic, boost the frequency of visits and provide huge number of listings.
The major source of their revenue is through commissions, subscriptions, freemium model, listing fee, sponsored links, and sponsored listings.
Total Visits – 12.1 Million
Annual Revenue – $5.0 – $10.0M
Category Rank – # 4 (e-commerce & shopping in Poland)
Country Rank – # 100 (Poland)
This is a free online marketplace wherein users can sell and buy services or goods. The website is dedicated to individual sellers. In here users can verify each other’s credentials and credibility due to its integration with Facebook.
The company was founded in 2011 by Tomasz Moroz. It is headquartered in Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland. It is an internet firm that provides an alternative to auction portals and classified ads websites for sellers and buyers. The total Funding Amount is $8.7B.
Business Model, Monetization Strategy & Revenue Generation
The top traffic source is search traffic, bringing 75.24% of desktop visits last month, and direct is the 2nd with 21.54% of traffic. The site gets most of its traffic from Facebook, followed by YouTube and Facebook Messenger.
Although engaging users through WhatsApp Webapp may bring new opportunities.
4. Shopee.pl
Total Visits – 7.8 Million
Annual Revenue – > $1.0 Billion
Category Rank – #5 (Ecommerce & online shopping in Poland)
Country Rank – #105 (Poland)
The company was first founded in 2015 in Singapore by Forrest Li Xiaodong. It is a multinational technology company whose main emphasis is on e- commerce. It has claimed to have made online shopping simple, secure and easy for both merchants and buyers.
Shopee’s latest round of funding was a acquired on January 21, 2019.
Business Model, Monetization Strategy & Revenue Generation
It works on a marketplace business model in which it matches supply (sellers) with demand (customers).
Shopee earns money through marketplace commissions (commissions that sellers pay while they sell something on the portal), transaction fees, CPC advertising on its platform, fulfillment services, payment fees, as well as commissions paid by restaurants.
5. Ceneo.pl
Total Visits – 55.3 Million
Annual Revenue – $25.0 – $50.0 Million
Category Rank – #1 (Ecommerce & online shopping in Poland)
Country Rank – #18 (Poland)
Poland’s second largest online marketplace is Ceneo. Ceneo operates on a price comparator model whereby buyers are allowed to compare prices for the over 5 million products that are available on the website.
Ceneo works in a similar fashion to that of search engines. The website ranks stores as per the product card. The ranking is done by comparing the cost-per-click of individual bids, customer ratings, and product prices.
Sellers can also use PPC to climb to top rankings. The company was founded by Marcin Chwalik on February 14, 2005. It has headquarters in Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland. It is the second largest e-commerce site selling everything from games to home office supplies.
Business Model, Monetization Strategy & Revenue Generation
It works in the Prepayment Model. The sellers pay in advance for future duties. The stores can easily examine the marketing budget and modify it depending on the requirements.
It gets most of its social media traffic from YouTube, followed by Facebook and Facebook Messenger. Audiences can be engaged through Twitter also which may open new opportunities.
Conclusion: Online Marketplaces In Poland
Users access suppliers’ inventory using the internet or via the online marketplace website / app and the marketplace doesn’t own any of these good before it offers these to consumers.
All the products being sold belong to the suppliers, these are available to consumers and there is real-time information available about the products being represented to consumers on the online marketplace’s site or app.
Take a safe & quick leap in your business with LeOffer! More than half of all customers make use of multiple devices for shopping online. Also, 24/7 access to the internet, flexible payments, delivery choices, and convenient returns make it all the more appealing options for shopping. So, wait no more and cash in on this opportunity.
After an Engineering degree and a Diploma in Management I devoted 16+ years working in the automotive industry. My innate skill and extreme passion in writing, encouraged me to adopt it up as a profession. I have been writing for more than 10+ years in the software industry. The 400+ blogs I published are informative, exhaustive and interesting to a professional and causal reader.
