Amazon’s fully-fledged Polish service is now online

You can read this article in 3 minutes

After seemingly endless speculation lasting years, Amazon.pl, the e-commerce giant’s Polish service, has now launched.

Previously, Amazon customers based in Poland had to use Amazon.de or Amazon.co.uk to get items to their door. It wasn’t ideal, as delivery was often expensive or not available – despite the fact Amazon has long had a number of fulfillment centres based in the country.

Now those problems should largely disappear as users can order direct from Amazon.pl. The site launched this morning along with a page sporting “special offers of up to 75%”.

Amazon say that delivery will be free on orders over 100zł, though there are some exceptions. Free shipping only applies to items shipped directly via Amazon.co.uk and third party sellers using Amazon Fulfillment Centers. Free delivery to all destinations does not apply to items offered by third-party sellers on the Marketplace platform on Amazon.pl that are not delivered by Amazon.pl. In such cases, shipping costs may apply.

Besides payments by card, Amazon.pl accepts transfers via the Przelewy24 platform.

Online shoppers who like InPost deliveries to parcel lockers (paczkomaty) will also be happy to know that Amazon has signed a 5-year contract with the parcel delivery company. The deal includes home deliveries and deliveries to parcel lockers.

When Amazon’s entry into Poland was officially confirmed earlier this year, Allegro’s quotation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange fell by about 7%.

Many believe that Amazon’s might will inevitably result in huge problems for Allegro. However, Allegro successfully fought off Ebay back in the noughties, and there are some who think the Polish sales platform will continue to do very well – for the foreseeable future at least.

In an article published on our Polish service, Krzysztof Wieczorek, Business Project Manager at ASTRA SA, argues that many users will find it difficult to switch from Allegro’s user interface to Amazon’s. Wieczorek also believes that sellers stand a better chance on the Allegro platform as their offers are immediately presented alongside one another. This is not the case on the Amazon website, where the company’s own offer is given priority.

On top of that, Wieczorek claims that the subscription fees and commission rates Amazon offer are less attractive to sellers than on Allegro. However, when all is said and done, the ASTRA SA Business Project Manager believes Amazon will ultimately come out on top after a “rather lengthy fight”.

Marcin Kuśmierz, CEO of shoper.pl, is another who believes Allegro will continue to do well. Kuśmierz told money.pl earlier today that Allegro “has solid foundations and the website will remain the leader for many years to come.”