Rumored Amazon entry into Poland may be a game changer, daily says

Retail

Photo by Mike Mareen/Shutterstock.com

Amazon, which already employs 16,000 in seven distribution centers in western and central Poland, servicing its German operations, would be able to start Polish internet shopping services this year if advanced discussions with the state-owned Poczta Polska postal service bear fruit, a Polish daily reported.

Amazon Logistics Center in Szczecin, Poland. Photo by Mike Mareen/Shutterstock.com.

At present Polish web shoppers can purchase goods via Amazon’s German site, which even has a Polish language version. However, the setting-up of a Polish-based site will make life much easier for sellers, who had to be VAT registered in Germany in order to trade on the site, and a marketing campaign will get underway.

The stakes are high, however, as the online shopping market grew by 16% in 2019, while in the previous year the market grew by 15%, as 57% of shoppers now buy online, according to a report by Ernst & Young.

The main difference for the market should Amazon indeed start trading directly, as Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported, is that internet shoppers may change their habits. At present the majority of purchases in Poland are made directly online in small internet shops (a total of 2,700 new shops appeared in Poland in the first half of 2019), while the trend in markets such as the United Kingdom is that shoppers primarily shop on Amazon, egged on by offers of free delivery.

Amazon makes most of its money from sellers. The company charges EUR 39 a month (about PLN 165) from sellers and then charges commissions on top of up to 15%; according to Gazeta.pl. competing with them will require keen incentives for sellers, which will no doubt eat into the profits of existing auction sites, news portal Poland In says.

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