One thing can certainly be said about the year 2021 - it was happening! There was no shortage of challenges, of course, but customers' interest in online shopping was growing, which made the e-commerce segment thrive. From the perspective of the Allegro platform itself, it was also a very successful year, especially in terms of developing improvements for buyers.
The marketplaces are delighting consumers. A wide selection of products, attractive prices, fast delivery - this is what visitors expect from them. In 2021, we implemented solutions that supported each of these three pillars. First of all, we reached another milestone in the development of the platform - currently more than 135,000 companies sell their products on Allegro, which is almost 20,000 more than in mid-2020, and the number of offers in the third quarter of 2021 exceeded 250 million. We have significantly increased our portfolio by welcoming to the platform such well-known and popular brands as DUKA, Pepco, Sprandi (CCC), Dada (Biedronka), Apart or Fila, among others.
Price is still one of the most important factors that influence shoppers' decisions. In this area, in 2021 we implemented, among other things, the Super Price label, which helps shoppers easily find products with the lowest price in the market. We also implemented record-breaking promotion festivals, Smart! Week and Black Week, which resulted in savings of millions of zlotys for our shoppers.
However, in addition to prices, speed and reliability of delivery are also decisive. As Allegro we are constantly investing in this area. This is evidenced by the systematic increase in expenditure on the Smart! program and the development of the One by Allegro brand, which includes our own network of green Allegro parcel machines (One Box), a network of pick-up points (One Punkt) and One Fulfillment by Allegro - a comprehensive logistics service, taking over from the sellers the storage, packaging and delivery of shipments and handling customer queries related to order completion. What is more, we have also significantly developed our delivery time prediction mechanisms. As a result, we are able to accurately predict when the customer will receive their order, even during peak shopping periods such as the run-up to Christmas.
Analysing the entire e-commerce segment in 2021, I think it is worth highlighting three trends. Firstly, q-commerce, i.e. instant delivery of online purchases. Such services are developed not only by large retail chains, there are also many new brands specialising in quick-commerce. Secondly, customers increasingly expect convenient and flexible payment methods (we also introduced Allegro Pay, a BNPL solution). The third symbol of 2021 in e-commerce for me is the development of B2B sales online. Buyers on behalf of companies expect net pricing, discounts, deferred payment, while transferring their expectations to a certain standard of online shopping from their private lives. That is why almost a year ago we launched Allegro Biznes, built on a platform beloved by Poles for online shopping, the best place for corporate shopping, which combines a wide selection of products, attractive prices, friendly payment methods and convenient delivery with features and tools to reduce costs.
The year 2021 has brought many changes. However, I am convinced that e-commerce in 2022 will not slow down, but quite the opposite, and we will be facing 12 very intense and interesting months.
Karol Czupryński
Commercial Category Management Director
Allegro
