The service will give Polish customers a new dimension of shopping, and allow local businesses to reach more audiences both in Poland and around the world.
Amazon.pl premiere coming soon!
Amazon.pl premiere coming soon!
More than 50% of goods sold on Amazon come from external partners. The upcoming launch of Amazon.pl will therefore give Polish entrepreneurs the opportunity to reach more than 300 million Amazon customers worldwide, in more than 200 countries and territories. Currently, 1.7 million small and medium-sized companies sell globally through Amazon, of which more than 200,000 entrepreneurs exceeded $100,000 in sales value in 2019. Amazon invests billions of dollars annually in infrastructure, tools and services that enable small and medium-sized businesses to effectively sell their products online.
For many years, Amazon has supported Polish customers and helped sell products from Polish entrepreneurs in our European stores. The next stage is to introduce a full retail offering for consumers in Poland, and the time has come for that step.
We are pleased that we can strengthen the position of Polish companies through Amazon by investing in tools and services that will help them grow. We are convinced that by focusing on what we believe customers value most – low prices, a wide selection of goods and fast delivery – we will, over time, earn the trust of customers in Poland said Alex Ootes, Vice President of EU Expansion, Amazon
Amazon in Poland
Amazon in Poland
Will the Amazon.pl premiere in Poland threaten Allegro?
Amazon has been operating in Poland since 2014. The American Chamber of Commerce announced in 2020 that Amazon is the largest American employer in the country and the third-largest American investor. Amazon has created more than 18,000 permanent jobs in nine modern logistics centers: in Sady (near Poznan), Sosnowiec, Kolbaskowo (near Szczecin), two facilities in Bielany Wroclawskie, Pawlikowice (near Lodz), Lodz, Okmiany (near Boleslawiec) and Gliwice, as well as in the Amazon Web Services office and the Amazon Technology Development Center in Gdansk, which provide innovative solutions supporting Amazon's products and services worldwide, including Alexa voice solutions. In 2021, a 10th center will open in Swiebodzin, where more than 1,000 new jobs will be created. Since the beginning of the pandemic, all Amazon branches have made ensuring employee safety a top priority, investing more than $10 billion to achieve this goal. Solutions were introduced to maintain a safe distance of 6.5 feet, temperature checks, distribution of masks and gloves, and improved cleaning and disinfection processes. In Poland alone, Amazon has provided its employees with more than 8 million pairs of gloves, more than 2 million protective masks, more than 24 million disinfecting wipes and more than 33 million bottles of hand sanitizer, as well as made more than 150 significant process changes to improve safety.
Expert comments
For more than three years, from time to time we have heard electrifying news about Amazon's full entry into Poland supposedly happening “any moment now.” Full meaning also for sellers, because for buyers the option of ordering from German Amazon.de has been available even longer. However, the repeated delay of the service's premiere on our market may not work in the American giant's favor, because in large marketplaces competition takes place primarily at the price level, and Polish e-commerce has already slowly outgrown wars over who is cheapest. More and more sellers are taking care to build their brands, paying attention not so much to low prices as to all aspects of the shopping experience. Amazon's entry will certainly enliven the market, which in turn should translate into positive shopping experiences for consumers. However, I would not expect Amazon to be the main player in two years, or for every online shopper to immediately start shopping through this service. Let us not forget that a marketplace well known for many years already exists on our home market, while new online stores are constantly opening, enjoying great popularity and customer loyalty tied to the brand. Therefore, if owners care about building a recognizable business and presenting products in an individual way, they should invest first and foremost in their own channels, treating the others as supporting sales. Starting sales on Amazon is a good step in risk diversification – one must remember, however, that we are only a player on our own field. If e-business owners care about building a recognizable brand, presenting products in an individual way, and showcasing the founders' stories, they should invest primarily in their own channels, such as their own online store, which can operate independently of marketplaces, treating the others as supporting sales. - Artur Halik, Head of Sales Shoper
For the Polish e-commerce sector, Amazon's full entry into our market may have a positive impact. Ideally, the American giant would establish itself here strongly enough to mark its position and push the competition to fight for the customer, but without gaining a dominant position in Polish e-commerce. Besides, Allegro, with its Allegro Smart service, a very wide selection of products and an excellent app, has a strong chance of repelling this attack. As a Polish company, it will also pay taxes in the country, and so will sellers operating there, which seems to matter to an increasingly broad group of consumers. If things go that way, Amazon would become for Polish online sellers primarily a convenient way to expand abroad. Some of them had already started working with this service earlier, precisely in order to open a path to European markets – a global marketplace has always been a good idea for piloting sales abroad. Now the unconvinced and the so-called long tail will begin to join them. Until now, however, Amazon's support was not available in Polish, which created certain limitations; now it should be easier. I therefore expect strong interest and mass testing of this new channel by Polish online stores. - Pawel Szewczyk, Vice President of the Management Board of merce.com
Summary
Amazon has announced the imminent premiere of the Polish version of its service, which will open local sellers' access to more than 300 million customers worldwide. The company, present in Poland since 2014, has already created more than 18,000 jobs and in 2021 will open another center in Swiebodzin. Experts point out that the giant's entry will enliven the market, but it does not necessarily have to dethrone Allegro immediately, as Allegro has a strong position thanks to its Allegro Smart service. For many e-stores, Amazon.pl may above all be a gateway to foreign expansion, especially since until now technical support was available mainly in English.
