With 2.5 shops per 1,000 inhabitants, Poland knows the highest shop density per inhabitant in the EU (0.5). A Polish consumer visits a shop 46 times per month on average, divided over, on average, 7 supermarket formats. The four largest formats ‘only’ have a market share of 33 per cent (in many EU countries this is much higher), and Biedronka is the largest of these. The number of supermarket formats creates large price pressure, also because Polish consumers are very critical of prices. Of the budget, 17 to 25 per cent is spent on food. The total value of the FMCG market is 230 to 250 million PLN, and annually grows with approximately 3 per cent. Of Polish consumers, 50 per cent buys fruits and vegetables at markets or bazaars.
These characteristics and other developments and trends in the Polish retail sector emerged during a presentation of Ms Edyta Kochlewska, a journalist with the magazine ‘Dla Handlu,’ during a networking breakfast organised by the Dutch Embassy for Dutch participants of the food fair World Food Warsaw and anyone interested from the Polish food sector.