Monthly visits exceeded 200 million, and a large number of sellers flocked to this platform!

Compared with the fiercely competitive Western European market dominated by Amazon, more sellers are turning their attention to the Central and Eastern European market, which has stable economic development and a rapidly growing e-commerce market. As of 2021, the scale of the cross-border e-commerce market in Central and Eastern Europe reached US$109.2 billion, an increase of nearly 30%, far exceeding the growth rate of Western Europe.

The Central and Eastern European e-commerce market, led by Poland, is more like a potential stock waiting to be developed, with huge business opportunities. Looking at Poland, the largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe, its economic growth rate is 2.5 times the EU average , and the number of Internet users is as high as 20 million . Some institutions predict that by 2026, Poland's annual e-commerce market growth rate will be above 12%.

In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia and other regions, there are still tens of millions of consumers waiting to be reached by sellers, especially in the Czech Republic, where the number of online shoppers is close to 6 million. It can be said that the Central and Eastern European market is the next key area for cross-border sellers to focus on.

Allegro platform monthly visits exceed 200 million

In this market, local consumers prefer not Amazon, but Allegro , the fastest growing European e-commerce platform with deep roots in the Central and Eastern European market . Survey data shows that more than 85% of Poles give priority to Allegro when shopping online, while only 21% have used Amazon.

According to Similarweb data, Allegro's monthly visits exceeded 200 million in March this year , and the number of active users reached 22 million, exceeding most platforms such as Amazon in the Polish market. Currently, sellers can sell products to more than 440 million consumers in 24 countries across the European Union through Allegro's English international platform allegro.com .

When the global economy was in recession and consumption was weak, Allegro still delivered a good report card. The quarterly report for the first quarter of 2023 showed that its GMV and profits were in a state of sustained growth . At the same time, Allegro Poland achieved a four-quarter increase in the number of active buyers, reaching 14.2 million. Among them, the average GMV value of each active seller increased by nearly 10% year-on-year to 3,582 Polish zlotys.

This is inseparable from the strong economic support of local consumers. Relevant data shows that Poland has a population of 38 million, a per capita GDP of US$17,318, a per capita purchasing power of US$37,323, and the proportion of online shoppers exceeds 70%.

However, behind the strong purchasing power is not the involution of sellers. Currently, Allegro has only 135,000 sellers, and there are very few Chinese sellers. Compared with other platforms, the sellers on the Allegro platform are not saturated, nor do they have the involution of sellers like other platforms .

With many people, money and no competition, Allegro is undoubtedly a new outlet for sellers. Chinese sellers can seize this opportunity and make great strides in the Central and Eastern European market . Backed by the fertile soil of the European e-commerce market, Allegro has firmly established itself as the leading platform in the Polish market. In addition to the Polish market, Allegro has already started its expansion to the whole of Europe.

The number of online shoppers is approaching 6 million, Allegro expands into the Czech market

Unlike previous years when people only focused on the UK, Germany and other regions, in recent years, opening up small and medium-sized markets has become a consensus among many platforms and sellers. The Czech Republic is one of them. Allegro has also made a key move to conquer the pan-European market in the Czech Republic, launching the Czech version of the platform , allegro.cz. Sellers on allegro.pl no longer need to register for the Czech version, and can sell across borders on one platform and set different product prices in different markets.

According to data, before the Czech version went online, about three-quarters of allegro.pl sellers expressed interest in exporting their products to the Czech Republic, and on the first day of the Czech version allegro.cz's operation, the Czech platform had about 100 million offers.

Tracing the source, it is not difficult to find that the prospects of cross-border e-commerce in the Czech Republic are particularly bright. ecommerceDB predicts that Czech e-commerce sales will reach US$6.7399 billion in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%. It is expected that the scale of Czech e-commerce will reach US$9 billion by 2027.

As early as 2013, Czechs began to shop online. Among the 10 million population, 6 million people shop online. The Internet penetration rate is as high as 88.4%, making it the European country with the largest number of online stores per capita. They are keen to buy high-quality and low-priced clothing, electronic products, machinery, toys and other products online, among which the sales growth of drones is the most impressive.

As larger markets become increasingly saturated, it is a wise decision for platforms and sellers to lean towards small and medium-sized markets such as the Czech Republic. The Central and Eastern European market is their next plan, and Allegro is a powerful tool for them to develop these markets.

Cross-border e-commerce in Central and Eastern Europe is rising strongly, and Allegro is confident in its expansion

Looking at the Central and Eastern European market, cross-border e-commerce is developing rapidly not only in Poland and the Czech Republic, but also in Slovakia, Hungary and other regions. Taking Slovakia as an example , there are currently 3.5 million consumers who frequently shop online, and the e-commerce market penetration rate is as high as 75%.

Allegro's expansion in the Central and Eastern European market may also be due to its focus on the emerging cross-border e-commerce genes: high user consumption levels and high Internet penetration rates, making it a new incremental market.

In the Central and Eastern European market, Allegro, with hundreds of millions of users, stands out among a number of platforms. It has been deeply involved in the Polish market for more than 20 years, and its brand awareness and customer loyalty far exceed the industry's peers. During the 2021 Smart! Week promotion, the platform averaged 3 million items sold per day, and the daily transaction volume of sellers participating in the promotion was 72% higher than usual. Many Lego and vacuum cleaners were sold out in minutes.

Some Chinese sellers saw the advantages of Allegro and made early arrangements. They opened two stores within one year of entering Allegro, and one of the stores achieved sales of 25,000 euros in just four months.

The platform has also provided strong policy support to help Chinese sellers settle in. It not only provides free seller training and professional Chinese support for Chinese sellers, creates a Chinese help center, but also simplifies the settlement process for Chinese sellers. Chinese sellers do not need to provide translation files to settle in Allegro, but can directly upload the original Chinese documents.

At the same time, the platform also provides preferential policies such as exemption of listing fees, sales commission reduction, and free trial of promotional tools for new sellers. For sellers with faster performance growth, the platform will also arrange professional Chinese account managers to provide one-on-one assistance to help Chinese sellers to the greatest extent possible in making money in the Polish market.

In new markets such as the Czech Republic, the platform has also prepared a series of solutions. Sellers can use the logistics service of Allegro's official warehouse One Fulfillment to handle orders sent to the Czech Republic. The platform will also assist in solving problems such as return management ( 42% of merchants), handling international complaints (39%), and language barriers in customer service (22%).

After entering Allegro, sellers can further expand to regions such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, reaching more than 70 million potential customers. Sellers who have already entered the platform do not need to re-register their stores, but only need to apply for the opening of a new site in the background to share their products to multiple sites on the platform.

The opening of an emerging market also means more potential and opportunities, which is suitable for cross-border sellers to take root and establish their own brand audience . Interested sellers can click the link below to read the original text and apply to join the Allegro international seller team to open up new horizons in the Central and Eastern European market.

Poland

Allegro

Central and Eastern Europe