Against the backdrop of fierce competition in the European market among e-commerce giants such as Amazon and eBay, there is a platform that has been sticking to its homeland in Poland and is known as the “Polish version of eBay”, that is Allegro Poland. This article will give you a detailed introduction to this highly anticipated e-commerce platform.
1. Introduction to Allegro Poland.
Allegro was founded in 1999 and, after several transactions, is now owned by a consortium of investment funds led by Permira. In October 2020, Allegro announced its listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Similar to eBay, Allegro is an online e-commerce platform that does not require physical inventory. It does not sell products, but provides a trading platform between sellers and buyers. Currently, Allegro has 125,000 sellers and a market value of up to $2 billion, ranking it as the 12th largest e-commerce platform in the world. Its product categories are diverse, covering everything from electronics, fashion, groceries to automobiles, art and industrial products.
For sellers, although Allegro has a self-service registration process, for foreign companies, company registration documents need to be uploaded. Under such fierce market competition, sellers need to be sufficiently competitive in terms of price and logistics transportation speed to meet the strong purchasing needs of Polish consumers.
2. Allegro Poland’s GMV growth.
According to public information, Allegro’s GMV grew by 46% to 9.6 billion Polish zlotys (about 2.56 billion U.S. dollars). Net income also increased by 61% to 1.21 billion zlotys (about 820 million U.S. dollars), and profits increased by nearly 158%. The average spending of buyers increased to 2,880 zlotys (about 768 U.S. dollars), an increase of 39% year-on-year. These figures clearly show Allegro Poland’s strong position in the local market.
Not only that, Allegro’s awareness in Poland is as high as 98%, and Poland, as the sixth most populous country in Europe, has gradually become one of the fastest-growing countries in the EU e-commerce in recent years. In fact, 96% of Allegro’s platform traffic comes from Poland, which is impressive for a relatively small country. Although Poland has a relatively small population of only 38 million, Allegro has 20 million customers and 202 million visits per month, making it the third largest e-commerce platform in Europe.
3. Logistics of Allegro Poland.
The Allegro platform supports direct delivery or overseas warehouses, although there is no official overseas warehouse. Consistent with other EU platforms, Allegro requires customers to return goods without reason within 14 days after receipt, but the shipping cost is borne by the customer. If there is a quality problem with the product, the customer needs to provide relevant proof. In this case, the return shipping cost is borne by the merchant. This policy helps to protect the rights and interests of customers and improve the credibility of the platform.
4. Registration information requirements of Allegro Poland.
Sellers who want to open a store on the Allegro platform need to provide the following registration information:
1. Business license or self-employed license.
2. Identification of legal persons and shareholders.
3. Bank certificate for third-party payment methods.
These requirements are designed to ensure that sellers on the Allegro platform are operating legally, thereby providing customers with a more reliable shopping experience.
V. Opportunities for Allegro Poland.
Poland has a large middle class, and female consumers spend up to 23% on beauty products. In addition, home gardening, clothing accessories and jewelry are also popular. In recent years, the demand for electronic products such as computer hardware and software, home theaters, refrigerators, washing machines, etc. has also been heating up. Since Poland’s light industry is relatively underdeveloped, clothing, home furnishings, 3C products, fashion, etc. are mostly dependent on imports, which provides excellent opportunities for Chinese sellers.
However, despite the opportunities in the Polish market, there are still relatively few Chinese sellers on the Allegro platform, less than 500. For Chinese sellers who want to expand into the European market, Allegro is undoubtedly a potential choice.
Allegro Poland has already made its mark in the European e-commerce market, but it should also be noted that with the entry of Amazon and other e-commerce giants and the rise of competitors, Allegro still faces huge challenges. Allegro announced that it has acquired the Czech e-commerce platform Mall Group for 881 million euros (about 1.02 billion U.S. dollars), which will enable Allegro to expand to countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia, where the population is almost twice that of the Polish market. This move will help Allegro further expand its scale and resist threats from competitors such as Amazon.
Overall, Allegro Poland’s achievements in a short period of time are impressive, and its future development prospects are also highly anticipated. As the European e-commerce market continues to evolve, Allegro will continue to play an important role in Poland and surrounding areas, and become one of the ideal platforms for Chinese sellers to expand into the European market.