E-shopping is increasingly popular in Poland Shutterstock

Internet sales in Poland reached €1.12 (zł.4.42) billion in 2009, with the market expected to grow to €1.21 (zł.4.78) billion in 2010 and reach €1.51 (zł.5.95) billion in 2012, forecaster Euromonitor International estimates.

"Compared to other countries such as the US, these numbers are very small, but Poland’s e-commerce market is growing at around 40 percent y/y, with 70 to 80 percent of all internet users having made online purchases,” Marek Borzestowski, an expert in the field of new technologies at the Sobieski Institute in Warsaw, told WBJ.

E-commerce in Poland will further be boosted by a new wave of EU funds for innovative entrepreneurial undertakings which Poland’s Regional Development Agency ann-ounced last week. Two rounds of applications are planned for late March and early April.

In the third round of applications for 2009 alone, 335 small businesses were deemed eligible for e-business grants, worth over zł.233 million.

Small companies form the bulk of Polish e-commerce, accounting for 86.4 percent of all online retail sales last year. “Poland’s e-commerce market is fragmented from the point of view of the sellers, but in terms of e-commerce platforms which connect sellers with buyers, Allegro dominates the market, generating as much as 50 percent of the traffic,” explained Mr Borzestowski.

Source: Euromonitor International

The best-selling e-tail items last year were consumer electronics, Euromonitor research shows.