Your window to Poland: five insights that illuminate one of Europe’s fastest-growing search markets

Poland represents one of the most exciting and dynamic marketing opportunities in Europe – and it’s an opportunity that’s open to digital advertisers from far beyond the country’s own borders. An urban, ambitious and aspirational population combines with above-average buying power to drive a rapidly expanding eCommerce market, that’s very open to buying from overseas. During 2022, Polish clicks on search ads grew by an average monthly rate of 160% with a similar click-through rate (CTR) to Germany and a cost per click (CPC) that’s reducing by 10% year-on-year.

Poland is a market where clicks readily translate into conversions – and conversions drive return on advertising spend. When the health and beauty retailer Sklep Zycia recently launches its first Microsoft Advertising campaign, it generated a return on ad spend of 1,550%. Poland’s openness to buying from abroad means these same returns are available to international advertisers extending into the market.

If you’re planning to scale your business across Europe through search – then Poland needs to be a part of your plans. Here are five key insights for helping to make that happen:

The PC is the touchpoint connecting work and life

For Poles, online experiences are predominantly desktop PC experiences, with the Windows Operating System on desktop taking a 91.6% share of all time spent connected to the internet. Poland is home territory for Workday Consumers, the rapidly growing audience who use the same, shared PC for both their personal and professional lives. Rather than switching between modes at set times of day, they’re comfortable mixing up work and home-related to-do lists and are always open to suggestions and solutions for both.?

Poland’s population is urban, online – and ready to shop

Close to three quarters (73%) of Poland’s population inhabits urban centers, 76% of the total population is online[1]?– and 80% of those internet users shop online[2]. Access to delivery networks within cities, combined with the country’s relatively high buying power (32% above average[3]) add up to a potent eCommerce opportunity. Poland generated more than twice as many clicks in 2022 than the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania combined[4].

Dynamic Search Ads provide a valuable tool for advertisers looking to leverage Poland’s appetite for online shopping by expanding campaigns into the country. Dynamic Search Ads match your ads to users’ queries that don’t feature your keywords – but which have other strong signals of relevance. This gives them a key role when exploring demand in new markets, revealing routes to buyers that you’re not yet aware of.

Overseas websites are the leading online shopping destination

Where are the shopping websites that Poland’s consumers visit most often? The top three are located in China, Germany and the UK[5]?– and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Poland’s appetite for clicking across borders. Advertisers extending campaigns into Poland from overseas can take advantage through Shopping Campaigns that showcase product images, price information and user ratings, helping searchers move closer to a purchase decision before they click through to a site.

Poland over-indexes on buying fashion, consumer tech and luxury goods

A fondness for high-value goods reflects the country’s strong purchasing power and aspirational urban population. Polish consumers are significantly more likely than average to describe themselves as open-minded, outgoing, creative and ambitious[6]?– and their purchase choices reflect this. Advertisers can use In-Market Audiences, made up of those who’ve demonstrated active interest in your product category, to reach high-value audiences in the moments when they’re ready to buy.

Polish language ads can deliver value beyond Poland itself

English language ads perform strongly when extended to Poland. However, creating versions of ads in Polish can deliver additional benefits on top of this. The large Polish diaspora drives a large share of Polish language searches in markets such as the UK, Ireland and Germany. Using Polish language targeting to reach these searchers can unlock a wider market beyond Poland itself.

If you’re ready to start scaling your campaigns into Poland, reach out to your account team, or sign up to Microsoft Advertising to get started with the platform.

Learn more about Sembot’s success in the Polish retail market

Explore the other regions featured in our global series, "Your Window to the World":

• Your Window to Japan
• Your Window to India

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Sources:

[1] GWI Snapshot

[2] E-commerce in Poland - Statistics & Facts | Statista

[3] US Comscore qSearch (custom) data for Bing and Microsoft Search Sites, June 2022

[4] Microsoft Internal Data?

[5] Poland: online cross border purchases by country 2020 | Statista

[6] GWI