The Republic of Poland is located in Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea to the north. It is a democratic republic consisting of 16 provinces. It borders Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and Lithuania and the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast to the northeast.
Since 1989, Poland has transformed from a planned economy under the Soviet model to a market economy. From 1993 to 2000, the GDP growth rate was obvious, but in 2001, due to the reduction of domestic consumption and investment, as well as the impact of the slowdown in global economic development, the growth of Poland’s economy began to slow down. After joining the European Union, the economy resumed its growth trend. Poland is a major automobile producer in Europe. International automobile giants such as Fiat, Volkswagen, and Toyota have successively invested in and built factories in Poland. The manufacture of automobile parts and the assembly and export of complete vehicles are important parts of its industry, mainly based on the electromechanical industry, including metal processing, machinery manufacturing, automobiles, shipbuilding, precision instruments, transportation tools, motors and electronics industries, among which the automobile industry is one of the largest new industries that are developing rapidly.
According to a survey by the Polish SMG/KRC agency, at the end of October 2003, 6.45 million Poles aged 15 to 75 used the Internet, accounting for 21.5% of the total population in this age group; among Internet users, 51.8% went online at home, 24.6% went online at work, 21.8% went online at school, 18.9% went online in Internet cafes, and 16.6% went online using a friend’s computer
The number of Internet users and the frequency of Internet access have made e-commerce develop more rapidly in Poland. According to a survey report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, about 55% of Poles have participated in online shopping. Among them, 65% of people choose online shopping because it can be done anytime and anywhere; 61% of people choose online shopping because of its convenience; and 60% of people believe that online shopping products have price advantages. At the same time, 38% of people still like to shop in physical stores because they can check the quality and model of the products on the spot and take them away directly after payment. Another 43% of people choose to browse and select products in online stores first and then buy them in physical stores.
A market research report by Nokaut, a leading Polish e-commerce company, shows that the number of online shoppers in Poland is growing rapidly. In the report, more than 50% of people have more than two years of online shopping experience, and 25% of people make more than 10 purchases a year. Men shop online more often than women, but the growth rate of female online shoppers is higher than that of men. This trend will change in the future.
The age of active online shoppers is between 25 and 34 years old, of which 16.4% have purchased more than 20 products or services online in the past year, and 27.4% have purchased 10-20 products or services. The second is people aged between 35 and 50, of which 15.5% have purchased more than 20 products or services online in the past year, and 25.9% have purchased 10-20 products or services. Residents living in large cities with a population of more than 500,000 have the highest rate of online shopping.