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E-Poland: Survey Shows Growth in PC and Internet Penetration but Points to Strong Urban/Rural and Income Disparities(Polish News Bulletin Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)The percentage of Polish households owning a desktop/laptop PC computer grew this year to 40 percent from 36 percent in 2004, according to a GUS survey of 8,200 households, a total of over 14,000 respondents, whose results were published last week. Internet access penetration grew to 30 percent from 26 percent last year. Mobile phone penetration was up to 62 percent. However, there remained broad disparities in penetration levels between urban and rural areas. Only 30 percent of rural households owned a computer, against 49 percent of urban ones. Four in 10 urban households had internet access, against just 19 percent of rural ones, and a mobile phone was used in 68 percent of urban households, against just 55 percent of rural ones. The percentage of households with access to broadband internet (at least 128 kbs in the survey) doubled to 16 percent from 8 percent in 2004, representing over a half of households with any internet access, up from a third last year. Some 45 percent of respondents said they used the computer in the previous three months, which means that the group of computer users grew by some 1,5 million over last year. The percentage of respondents (aged 16-74) using the internet to communicate ? by far the most popular application ? grew to 30 percent, a rise of 6 percentage points, or close to 1.8 million people, on the previous year. Besides communicating, Poles use the internet for seeking out information about products and services (18 percent), reading and downloading press articles (13 percent), playing games/downloading music (12 percent), using travel sites (6 percent), listening to online radio/watching online TV (6 percent), using banking services (6 percent), job seeking (5 percent), buying products/services (5 percent). Asked for reasons why they do not have internet access, respondents cited lack of need (39 percent), hardware costs (36 percent), access costs (33 percent), lack of skills (15 percent), lack of technical possibility of connecting (8 percent), and access elsewhere (7 percent). Table. PC, internet, mobile penetration (percent) Item overall urban rural desktop/laptop PC 40 49 30 internet access 30 40 19 mobile phone 62 68 55 source: Gazeta Wyborcza, GUSPoles' IT competence has also been improving. The percentage of respondents (aged 16-74) able to open an application by clicking the mouse, for instance, grew to 53 percent from 43 percent a year earlier Four in 10 respondents know how copy/move files, 34 percent know how to use the copy/paste tool, 27 percent know how to send an email with an attachment, 21 percent know how to use spreadsheets, and 16 percent know how to create websites (up from 7 percent a year before). Table. Internet applications (private users aged 16-74, percent) communication 30 info on products/ services 18 reading/ downloading press 13 games/music 12 travel sites 6 online radio/TV 6 banking 6 job search 5 shopping 5 source: Gazeta Wyborcza, GUS. Table. Reasons for not having internet access at home (percent) no need 39 hardware costs 36 access costs 33 lack of skills 15 no technical possibility 8 access elsewhere 7 source: Gazeta Wyborcza, GUSA survey of businesses found that 93 percent of businesses in Poland had a computer, 87 percent had internet access, but only 43 percent had broadband access. The GUS estimated the value of products/services purchased online by private users at ZL1 billion last year, up from ZL360 million in 2004. Those figures, however, seem out of tune with those from Allegro, Poland's largest online auction site. Allegro reported last week that the total value of transactions processed through it in 2005 would reach ZL1.5 billion, up 80 percent on the previous year and almost as much as the combined sales of the nationwide Zabka and Piotr i Pawel retail stores. Allegro, which had been in operation since 1999, had close to 4 million users who could choose from 1.2 million auctions, said spokesman Bartlomiej Szambelan. Table. Poles' IT competences (percent, users aged 16-74) click applications open 53 copy/move files 40 copy/paste 34 email attachments 27 spreadsheets 21 make website 16 write software 5 source: Gazeta Wyborcza, GUS. Table. Leading auction websites (?000) Site users auctions Allegro.pl 4,000 1,200 Swistak.pl 180 150 eBay.pl 350 50 source: Gazeta WyborczaOn Sunday, December 4, the site noted its all-time record of 123,000 goods worth over ZL7 million sold on a single day. The number of users had been growing by over 5,000 daily, said the company. eBay, the US auction giant which entered the Polish market in April 2005, had lagged far behind, with only 350,000 registered users and 50,000 pending auctions. "We're not here for just a moment," said Przemyslaw Pluta at eBay. "Business is good and will be growing quickly. Next year will see a breakthrough." Commenting on Allegro's sales, he said: "It's very good news for the auction industry, confirming its attractiveness and showing how strongly e-commerce in Poland, including C2C online trade, is growing." In terms of the number of active auctions, eBay was in fact second not only to Allegro but also to Swistak.pl, a private-owned auction site that over the past year, unexpectedly to many, had strengthened its market position. Table. Poland's internet market users buying Year users (million) online (percent) Jan-Sep 2005* 11.2 37 2004 8.0 23 2003 6.5 16.5 2002 5.8 11.5 2001 5.8 9.7 source: Rzeczpospolita"And that we've done without spending a single zloty on advertising, whereas the rivals have spent several million each. Swistak [marmot], in turn, has been growing chiefly on mouth-to-mouth recommendations," said chief Pawel Grzabka. In terms of turnover, however, Swistak was still miles behind Allegro, with the total value of goods sold through the site so far at just ZL20 million. Interestingly, contrary to the widespread notion, Allegro.pl is an advertisement/transactional site rather than an auction one, with the bulk of its turnover generated by products put up for sale at a fixed price (Buy Now) and bought without any bidding. Many of the sellers are official (or unofficial) businesses for whom Allegro has become an important, or even the main, distribution channel. Allegro doesn't publish its financial figures, and its main sources of income are the fees for posting an auction, a several-percent fee on each transaction, and additional fees for extra auction features. |