This study, titled Online stores in Poland – 2007 report, is an excerpt from the report Electronic economy in Poland – 2007 report.
Electronic commerce in 2007 developed very dynamically, and there is currently no indication that this trend will reverse in the coming years. This market is characterized by great potential, which both existing stores and new ones entering the world of electronic commerce are trying to exploit. The number of internet users is growing, the number of stores is increasing, stores already present in the electronic market are expanding their operations into new industries and new markets, e-commerce turnover is rising, and online stores are recording increasingly better financial results. These are some of the indicators illustrating the development of electronic commerce. E-commerce is growing in strength and becoming serious competition for traditional retail. Society is increasingly choosing online stores because products are significantly cheaper, and the ability to easily compare goods and their prices makes shopping much easier. Some online stores have developed such a strong brand that major players in traditional retail are beginning to consider them as competition. There are many situations where customers, citing lower prices in online stores, receive additional discounts in traditional stores.
Observing trends in the e-commerce market, one can see a further interpenetration of electronic and traditional commerce. On one hand, online stores are looking for their place in the traditional market. An example is the expansion of the Max24 store, which is planning the development of a traditional sales network. On the other hand, well-known brands in traditional retail are increasingly appreciating online sales and are opening their own online store websites (e.g., Alma is another grocery store that is heading into the internet). The main reason for this interpenetration is, of course, competitive struggle and the desire to reach new customer groups, but in the case of online stores, that is not all. It is also an attempt to solve some of the problems that online stores encounter, especially those related to the logistics of serving their customers and the timely delivery of ordered goods. Stores looking for development opportunities are increasingly expanding their assortment, creating multi-industry online stores. At the moment of market saturation with a specific type of assortment, e.g., books, they look for new product groups that will contribute to turnover growth. Increasingly, major players in the electronic market are following this path of development. In 2007, there was also no shortage of examples of stores that attempted expansion into new foreign markets. Having software and an operating model proven in Poland, companies are increasingly taking the risk of conquering new markets by opening similar auction sites or online stores in countries where the electronic market is still in the initial phase of development.
A consequence of the actions of online stores related to expansion into new markets, expanding the group of sold assortments, or entering the traditional retail market is the need to adapt their operations to the increasing scale of sales and the handling of an ever-growing number of orders. This creates a need for continuous investment in both IT and logistics infrastructure, as well as the necessity of undertaking increasingly larger promotional campaigns. Online stores, aware of these challenges and the scale of costs, which in many cases significantly exceed the financial capabilities of store owners, are increasingly trying to raise money through the stock exchange to realize their development plans. This path of raising capital for development was taken, for example, by: Hoopla.pl, Agito.pl, Stereo.pl, Dom Zdrowia, or Oponeo.pl.
The Institute of Logistics and Warehousing, in order to analyze the state and development of online stores in Poland in 2007, conducted two types of research among online stores: Research on the content, functionality, and access to information of online store websites and research on The use of electronic economy tools in online stores. The research covered two groups of stores. The first group included online stores selling products (the group includes both stores that sold only physical or electronic products, as well as stores that had a diverse assortment in their offer, which could include physical products, electronic products, and services), while the second group was classified as stores selling only services. The research was conducted in four stages. The first stage consisted of collecting the website addresses of all companies that could be online stores. In the second stage, based on a prepared definition of a store, it was checked whether a given company qualified for the group of online stores. Then, in the case of positive verification of the store, contact data and information about the sold assortment were collected. In the third stage, a random sample was selected for the two groups of online stores, and the Research on the content, functionality, and access to information of online store websites was conducted. This research consisted of an analysis of the informational content and functionality of online store websites. In the fourth stage, based on the selected random sample, CATI research on The use of electronic economy tools in online stores was conducted. This part of the research provided information about sales results in 2007, the sales support systems used by the store, and their work organization.
Ultimately, website addresses of 9,942 companies showing signs of being an online store were collected. In this group, 6,131 companies were identified as online stores. Contact information and information about the sold assortment were collected for 6,131 online stores. In the group of stores selling physical and electronic products, 436 websites were examined and 400 telephone interviews were conducted. Meanwhile, among stores selling only services, 208 websites were examined and 112 telephone interviews were conducted.
For a confidence level of Alpha=0.05, a 5% error level was assumed. As a result of the research, the research error was obtained at the level of:
– 5% for both studies conducted in the group of online stores selling physical and electronic products;
– 5% for the Research on the content and access to information of online store websites conducted in the group of online stores selling only services;
– 9% for the research on The use of electronic economy tools in online stores conducted in the group of online stores selling only services.
Below we present the content of the entire report Online stores in Poland.