Susanne Hornikel looks at direct marketing trends in the Polish marketplace.

Poland is – after the Russian Federation and Ukraine – the largest central European country with a surface of 322,500 km2 and approximately 38.48 million inhabitants. Outside the major cities, Poland is a vast nature reserve with a total of 23 national parks.

Almost 90 per cent of the population are Roman Catholics with a very strong sense of tradition and family. Christmas and Easter are extremely important, and not only for the older generation. Poland even has a private religious TV channel called religia.tv

Fifteen per cent of the population is over 14 years old, 71.6 per cent between 15 and 64 and only 13.4 per cent over the age of 65. Therefore and also because of a lower purchasing power, ‘silvers’ are a less important target group compared with western European countries.

Even though unemployment is falling rapidly (9.5 per cent in 2008), it still remains above the EU average, and salaries are still rather low compared to western European countries. That’s why – despite a low average tax rate of only 19 per cent – numerous young Polish people decide to leave the country and to work in the western part of Europe. In particular, personal care and seasonal work in agricultural regions offer excellent job opportunities with much higher incomes.

In 2008, GDP in Poland grew an estimated 4.8 per cent based on rising private consumption, corporate investment and EU funds inflows. With an accelerated privatisation and major reforms in the tax and pension system as well as in health care, GDP should continue to grow over the coming years.

This positive economic background offers excellent opportunities, not only for direct marketers. With around 20 personalised mailings per year/capita, the industry is still slightly ‘under-developed’. Compared to this figure, the number of unaddressed mailings and telemarketing campaigns are dominating. Call centres especially had an incredibly high growth rate of nearly 100 per cent in the last five years.

Newspapers and magazines  also play a very important role. Most of the western European publishing houses have their own titles in Poland. 

And – as in all other central European countries – online is still growing. By the end of March this year, Poland had more than 20 million Internet users, which represents approximately 52 per cent of the population and a growth of 615 per cent since the year 2000. Poland ranks at number six among the top ten European Internet countries.

Online shopping
Polish consumers spent around €2.5 billion on online shopping in 2008, 36.4 per cent more than in 2007. E-commerce holds a two per cent market share of the Polish retail market. Auction portals are particularly popular.

Twelve per cent of all individuals used the Internet for ordering goods and services in 2008 and 14 per cent used it for personal travel and accommodation planning. Price is still one of the key factors in purchase decisions.

In direct marketing, valuable information and good quality at reasonable prices is rated as more important than a trendy design. That’s why international discount retail chains such as Tesco, Lidl, Netto, Aldi, Obi and Ikea have successfully entered the Polish market recently.

The major problem for Polish consumers remains distance and infrastructure. All these retailers are located in major cities and people living in the countryside have to settle for smaller shops (with much higher price levels) or buy via online and offline catalogues.

So, mail order companies with a reasonable price level and good quality products have an excellent chance of developing a successful business in Poland.