Poland’s Statistics Office (GUS) has released retail sales data for January. Below is a commentary prepared by Miłosz Mickiewicz, Sales and Business Development Director at Comperia.pl SA Group.
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GUS published retail sales figures for January 2026. In constant prices, retail sales were 4.4% higher than a year earlier, compared with 4.9% in January 2025. Month on month, however, sales fell by 17.8% versus December, which is a natural consequence of a very high holiday base and the seasonal easing of demand after the December shopping peak.
Against the backdrop of overall retail trade, online sales look particularly strong. In January, the value of e-commerce sales was 10.9% higher than a year earlier, and the share of e-commerce in total retail sales increased from 9.1% to 9.7%. This confirms that despite the seasonal month-to-month softening in demand, the online channel continues to hold its position as a permanent feature of the retail landscape.
On a monthly basis, online sales declined to 78.6% of their December level, representing a clear pullback from the holiday high. It is worth emphasizing, however, that this is the shallowest January dip in years. In previous years, this ratio fell even below 70%. There were also instances when negative momentum appeared already in the November–December comparison. This year’s reading therefore suggests greater stability of demand in the online channel and a milder post-holiday slowdown.
Declines affected all analyzed categories, which is typical after the December shopping peak. The sharpest drop was recorded in the category “motor vehicles, motorcycles, parts,” where sales fell to 42.4% of the previous month’s level. Interestingly, in past years January in this category usually brought month-on-month increases. This may indicate that in the 2025/2026 season some purchases were made earlier—during the promotional period.
The exception was the category “pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, orthopedic equipment,” where sales remained almost at December levels (down by only 1.2%), while year on year they were as much as 39.6% higher. This performance may be linked to weather conditions—low temperatures and more difficult conditions on roads and sidewalks—which tend to drive higher demand for products in this group.
January’s data therefore show the classic effect of seasonal cooling after December, while also confirming the year-on-year resilience of e-commerce. Double-digit growth in online sales compared with a year earlier and a consistently high share of total sales indicate that the online channel is entering 2026 from a strong starting position. The key question now is whether positive annual growth will persist in the coming months and whether seasonal fluctuations will be milder than in previous years.
