Is it easy to sell pizza online in Poland?
Yes and no. In Sweden we were selling food directly online, which was relatively easy. When we started the same business in Poland we had to change our approach completely. On the surface we are doing the same things that we did in Sweden. However, in Poland we are only an agent and not a direct seller. Within the first two years of running the company on the Polish market we had to change our business model twice in order to make it compliant with the Polish law.
Can you see other “soft” characteristics of running a business in Poland other than strictly formal differences? I mean culture, mentality, etc.
Of course I can. As far as e-commerce and m-commerceare concerned, Poland is still not very advanced in this segment. You can clearly see it from our website conversion rate. In Sweden it is visited by as many people as in Poland but in Sweden the conversion level is twice as high. It results from the lack of mental barriers.
When Polish people order food from us for the first time, most of them pay in cash. They don’t want to pay online. When they see that everything works fine, they choose electronic payments. This is a huge change because in 2011 only 15% of orders were paid online and today it’s about 50%. On the other hand, in Sweden it’s 80%. The differences can also be seen when you look at our mobile application. In Poland we have Android, iOS and Windows Phone applications available and we have been promoting them intensively for over a year.
We started cooperation with T-Mobile, Nokia and Microsoft, we invested in TV commercials and our applications receive positive opinions in app stores. Still only 10% of all orders are made through mobile applications and the number of downloads is not satisfactory.
After the first month in Sweden 15% of orders were made through mobile applications. Our group is active in 14 countries and in this area Poland looks worst.
Do you think that it is because not many people are aware of what smartphones can be used for? Or maybe mobile applications are not so good for ordering food as it would seem?
Mobile applications look and work almost the same in Poland and in Sweden so we cannot say that the Polish application is not as good asthe Swedish one and makes the statistics look as they do. I think it’s more about the fact that Polish people do not use their smartphones’ full potential. Some time ago I saw results of a survey conducted byTNSand MonikaMikowska. They indicated that many Poles don’t even know they have a smartphone. I believe that mobile phone operators in Poland still charge high fees for data transfer and people are afraid to use applications and Internet on their phones.
We also lack good mobile application marketing specialists and it makes it more difficult to promote them. We would like to spend more money on promoting our applications but we cannot see how we could invest in that effectively.
Does it mean that I won’t hear “this is a year of mobile” from you, which is so popular in your sector?
You definitely won’t. Honestly speaking, I don’t know what it would mean. From our perspective the situation looks like that: we try to promote our applications intensively, they are highly ranked in app stores and still the number of downloads is not satisfactory. There’s still a lot to be done for us and the whole market.
You mentioned the “unsatisfactory number of downloads”. How many people have actually downloaded your application?
We have over 200,000 downloads from all three app stores.
What number of downloads would satisfy you then?
I would be satisfied if we had 1,500-2,000 downloads a day. At the moment we are more or less halfway. During weekends and on better days we manage to have 1,000 downloads.
You described the Polish market as “immature” and mentioned unsatisfactory results. Do you regret that you have started doing business here?
Absolutely not.It’s easierto get to the leader’s position and keep it on such a market.
We already know your opinion about the Polish e-commerce market or at least this part of it which you deal with. Now I would like to ask you about the start-up market. What do you think about young Polish entrepreneurs?
I have a very good opinion about them. I’m aware of the conditions they have to operate in. In Sweden I worked for a public institution, which supported start-ups on different stages and I know that innovative companies have much more possibilities of getting help or advice there. Finding money on research and first prototypes is much easier than in Poland. The infrastructure around start-ups is much better developed in Sweden, including accelerators, incubators and universities. I keep my fingers crossed for Darek Żuk and his Akademickie Inkubatory Przedsiębiorczościand Polska Przedsiębiorcza. Such platforms of making contacts as well as gaining knowledge and funds are very much needed. I was offered to help create an incubator in Łódź that would commercialise ideas born at universities, which shows that there is a will but also still a lot to be done.
Are Polish people creative?
Definitely so.I can even say that I prefer to do business in Poland than in Sweden. The reason behind that is very simple: Swedish people see their country as a very modern and developed one while Poles believe their country is still developing. If I have to choose the environment to set up a business, stimulate my creativity and do cool things, I prefer to do it among people who see their nation as still developing, with the willingness to act and not the one that thinks it is already developed and cuts off the coupons. I met more hungry and creative people in Poland than in Sweden.
Are they among the representatives of theranking published by the Brief magazine – 50 most creative people in business? Recently you have started cooperation with two companies from that list – Prowlyand Migam.pl…
Of course they are. After you published the ranking I was contacted by the representatives fromEstimoteand other people from the list who wanted to congratulate me and make contact, which will probably bear fruit in the future.
The interview was conducted by Paweł Luty / Brief Magazine
Photo © from private archives of Lech Kaniuk
