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GLOBAL TRENDS Polish C-Store Sector Booms Consumers in Poland are attracted to small but frequent shopping and a wide assortment of fresh foods. oland’s convenience retail market is tipped to grow as Polish consumers show an increased appetite for con- venient, local offers and fresh, quality Pfood and drink products. Attendees to the 2018 NACS Convenience Summit Europe (CSE) can experience firsthand this market’s uniqueness when the event launches in the Polish capital, Warsaw, on Sunday, June 3, before transferring to London for the two key conference days on June 6 and 7. Michael Davis, NACS vice president of mem- ber services, visited Poland in the fall of 2017 on a scouting mission and highlights the market’s appeal. “Warsaw is growing with a strong, fairly When deciding where to shop, Polish consumers consider store location, new convenience market,” he says. “Motorways are the availability of fresh food and attractive promotions. relatively new and the convenience and fuel sites (and travel centers) heading in and out of Warsaw Convenience and discounters are the main have some exciting food and convenience offers beneficiaries of the growth trends in Poland, Milos and were bustling. CSE attendees will have a great Ryba, head of discount and CEE at IGD, reports. deal to see and learn.” “Convenience and discount are the largest chan- The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) nels in Poland and show the most potential for forecasts the grocery retail market in Poland will future growth, with shoppers in towns and cities grow 2.5% annually to reach 312 billion Polish attracted to little and often shopping,” he says. zloty ($93.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, with increased consumer spending fueling much of CONSUMER TRENDS this growth. And Euromonitor agrees. Disposable As in other world markets, consumer trends incomes and spending in the country are picking are shaping the how and why of where Polish up, backed by rising employment, growing wages consumers choose to shop. Increasingly busy and a new social program, Family 500+, which lifestyles, the trend toward health and wellness, is aimed at families with children. A significant smaller households, demand for quality products amount is being spent in grocery stores on food, and an increasingly sophisticated store environ- drinks and other basic goods, driving the turnover ment and experience are driving shoppers of grocery retailers, Euromonitor adds. to c-stores. 74 | MARCH 2018 CONVENIENCE.ORG PKN Orlen rolled out its new concept convenience stores O! Shop. Low price is becoming less import- a strong ‘traditional trade’ market but, ant when choosing where to purchase, compared to its Eastern neighbors, the Motorways are reports Euromonitor. Polish consumers convenience market has developed consider the convenience of shopping fast and strong. This can be seen in the relatively new (store location, a suitable sales area, a c-stores themselves (the number and wide offer without having to walk long concepts), as well as in consumer accep- distances while shopping), the availabil- tance of those,” he says. in Poland and ity of fresh food such as meat, fruit and Euromonitor says Polish consumers vegetables, and attractive promotions. increasingly appreciate shopping in the convenience An increasingly wide assortment of mid-size outlets such as c-stores, and these fresh products is available through reports that convenience retailers saw and fuel sites discounters, which influences the value of the second-best performance within purchases in this channel. grocery retailers in 2016, with a 6% heading in and In turn, the number of food/ current value growth. According to the drink/tobacco specialists is declining, research company, “Convenience stores out of Warsaw Euromonitor reports. An increasing num- are becoming increasingly popular ber of butchers, greengrocers and fish- among Polish consumers thanks to their mongers are closing due to the decrease long opening hours, convenient locations have some in the number of customers and lower close to shoppers’ homes and relatively product turnover, researchers add. wide range of products in a fairly small exciting food Mark Wohltmann, director of NACS sales area. [The Polish] appreciate Europe, also notes a shift toward mod- convenient solutions; hence the shift to and conven- ern store formats in Poland. “Poland has smaller stores, where shopping can be been, as all Eastern European countries, done comfortably and quickly." ience offers. CONVENIENCE.ORG MARCH 2018 | 75 GLOBAL TRENDS PKN Orlen is a major Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer. KEY PLAYERS Republic, and 25 in Lithuania. According IDG’s Ryba reports that investment in the to Wohltmann, Zabka and PKN Orlen are convenience channel is helping to drive both domestic players but operate stores growth with many retailers opening new that deploy global best practices adapted NACS GLOBAL stores using a franchise model. The IGD is to the local market. CALENDAR forecasting 1,500 new convenience stores to Carrefour, meanwhile, is an interna- open each year for the next five years with tional player with a locally adapted store Eurocash, Carrefour and Zabka all rapidly model based on its French home-market MARCH 12-14 NACS Convenience Summit Asia expanding their convenience store estates. model. With more Poles shopping in Hong Kong Founded in 1998, Zabka is the lead- smaller store formats, Carrefour has www.convenience.org/asia ing Polish convenience retailer, having been adapting its model too, according grown from a single convenience store to Euromonitor. In 2015, for instance, JUNE 3-8 in Poznań to a country-wide network of 10 Carrefour hypermarkets were reno- NACS Convenience Summit Europe approximately 4,500 stores, all operated vated and transformed into supermarkets Warsaw and London by about 3,000 talented and entrepreneur- to meet consumers’ changing lifestyles. www.conveniencesummit.com ial franchisees. Zabka was acquired by But convenience stores face increased the private equity group, CVC, from Mid competition from the discounters—Aldi OCTOBER 7-10 Europa Partners in February 2017. and Lidl, as well as local player Biedronka. NACS Show At the end of 2017, the PKN Orlen “The discounters will also be active in this Las Vegas, Nevada retail network comprised 1,776 sites in area, with many opening new stores in city www.nacsshow.com Poland, 581 in Germany, 401 in the Czech centers and competing with convenience 76 | MARCH 2018 CONVENIENCE.ORG GLOBAL TRENDS POLAND: SEE FOR YOURSELF Wohltmann agrees: “The Polish focus on food quality, but also on the location, service and atmosphere of the premises.” Convenience and fuel retailing leaders from around the world will Attendees joining CSE in Warsaw in gather in Warsaw and London this June for knowledge, commercial June will experience innovative ways to connections and networking. And, the global event also features master foodservice in a small footprint, the popular International Convenience Retail Awards—now in its he adds. 10th year. Healthier food options are also on the The Warsaw segment of the program (June 3-5) features radar but the offer is less developed than high-level European retail thought leadership, strategy, trends in some European markets. “Poland is and economics. Supplier-hosted dinners and store visits connect probably right on the average of all of attendees and show them what’s new and exciting in Polish Europe,” Wohltmann reports. “The ‘usual’ convenience retailing. health trends with brand-driven prod- The main conference takes place in central London at the Hilton ucts (gluten free, low sodium, low fat) London Bankside Hotel (June 6-8). As the must-attend event for can be seen in all stores. Specific ‘healthy the European and international industry, attendees experience fast food’ concepts, like Leon in the U.K., retailer roundtables, international best practice presentations on are less obvious; while offers in classic key trends and developments in the global industry, case studies foodservice stores have the usual range and our famous awards night program. Join us! of ‘treats plus healthy options’ rather than For more information and to register, ‘healthy options plus treats,’” he says. visit www.conveniencesummit.com. FAST-TRACKED FORECOURTS Convenience is tipped to grow on the forecourt in Poland as well, appealing to the growth in the number of consumers stores,” Ryba at IGD predicts. “Biedronka who value convenience and choose to and Lidl have especially targeted new store do their shopping in stores located near openings in Poland’s cities,” he says. residential areas. In the travel retail arena, Lagardère- Motorway forecourt retailing is an owned brands One Minute, Inmedio even newer phenomenon in the country, and hubiz are all showing local retail but the offers are clean and refreshing, execution combined with global travel says Wohltmann, based on his firsthand retail experience, Wohltmann reports. look. “Poland’s forecourt stores were For Davis, the coffee concept Green Caffè basically nonexistent in 1990,” he says. Nero stands out. Locally owned, it was “The country took about a decade to created through a management buyout build the basic infrastructure, but then following the collapse of the British brand retailers could start from scratch and Caffè Nero in Poland. “Again, it proves harness all the best practices they could that adapting to the local market works,” find globally.” says Wohltmann, adding that the market In fact, Wohltmann says that during feedback on the chain is “much better his tour of forecourt locations in Poland, than Starbucks.” he’d often hear someone say: “Well, As in other markets, the trend to food- they did that right! I saw that in Japan, service and a strong food-to-go offering France, Brazil or the United States…” is a retail Fiona Briggs in Poland is very well established, Davis While Poland is not necessarily leading business journalist. She can be reached at reports.

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