July brought a clear rebound in Polish e-commerce. According to data from the whenUbuy app, average monthly spending per user across the largest shopping platforms rose to PLN 825, up 6% compared with the average for the previous three months. At the same time, consumers bought fewer products per shopping session but chose higher-value items, with the average price per product increasing by 3%.
The most visible changes were recorded on Chinese shopping platforms. The average value of a single product rose from PLN 22 in June to PLN 29 in July, an increase of as much as 31%.
Despite this, monthly spending remained stable and once again exceeded PLN 300 per user. This suggests that consumers have not reduced their overall spending following the introduction of new tariffs. Instead, they are simply buying fewer products.
The data show that, at least for now, we are not seeing a negative impact from the tariff changes on the value of purchases made on Chinese platforms. Polish consumers are spending similar amounts to before, but they are choosing fewer, higher-value products. This is more a change in shopping behaviour than a withdrawal from shopping altogether – says Ewa Kraińska, owner of whenUbuy.
Deferred payments are also becoming increasingly important.
BLIK now accounts for 22% of transactions on the largest shopping platforms. On Allegro, its share rose to 23%, although Allegro Pay remains the leader with a 29% share, up from 26% a month earlier.
An even more pronounced shift can be seen on Temu, where Buy Now, Pay Later services such as Klarna and PayPo accounted for as much as 31% of transactions. This is almost three times the level recorded in previous months and the highest result since whenUbuy began its analysis.
Delivery preferences are changing as well.
Parcel lockers strengthened their position, increasing their market share by 3 percentage points compared with June. This confirms the continuing trend towards delivery options that give consumers greater flexibility over when and where they collect their parcels.
Return data are also noteworthy. In July, returns fell to 7% of all orders, down 1 percentage point from the previous month.
Fashion continues to record the highest return rate, with more than 21% of purchases being sent back. However, the differences between individual brands are significant.
Zara recorded the highest return rate at 50%, followed by H&M at 41%, while Zalando stood at 36.5%.
Importantly, whenUbuy data suggest that the cost of returning an item is not the decisive factor influencing customer behaviour.
Both H&M and Zara charge customers for returns, yet they are among the retailers with the highest proportion of returned orders. Zalando, by contrast, offers free returns but records a lower return rate than either of those brands.
It may seem intuitive that charging for returns would effectively discourage customers from sending products back. Our data do not confirm this. Many consumers are not even aware that they are paying such a fee because it is automatically deducted from the refunded amount. What matters much more is the convenience of the entire process and the ability to return a product quickly – Ewa Kraińska explains.
The July figures indicate that Polish e-commerce remains resilient to changing market conditions.
Consumers are not cutting their spending but are instead adapting their purchasing decisions to the new environment. Convenience across the entire shopping journey – from payment and delivery to potential returns – is also becoming increasingly important.
The quality of the overall customer experience is therefore emerging as one of the most important sources of competitive advantage for online retailers.
Source: https://ceo.com.pl/polacy-wydaja-wiecej-w-e-commerce-srednio-juz-825-zl-miesiecznie-62978
