Poland (merchandising)

Culture in a business market refers to the shared elements that offer standards of believing, perceiving assessing and communicating among people with a common language, historical period and even geographic location. Poland is a country that has been shaped by its long fight its sovereignty which has resulted in a strong population that is attached to their culture and heritage.  This culture has significant effects on Polish consumer behavior which in turn influences how local, national and international companies create their merchandising approaches.  The perception of the polish population in relation to nationality race and family are manifested in various social groups and reveals their prejudices, discriminations and even patriotism (Kujawińska, Łukowska& Williams, 2011). The culture begins to play an important role for individuals who are emotionally attached to their culture and when they have the motivation to support it and even identify with it.  This brings into focus the issue of ethnocentrism whose main culture components includes an attitude by the population to their group members which translates to attitude towards products in terms of whether they are produced locally and internationally. Therefore businesses introducing their products into such a market have to consider how their products will be perceived in the market whose population is attached to their cultural heritage (Reuvid & Terterov, 2005).  The concept here is how various cultural perceptions held by consumers will influence how the manner in which the companies will present their products to consumers.  However, the retail market in the country, especially in regard to the fashion sector, has not been saturated by domestic fashion products. The firms that have ventured into this market have had to consider cultural acclimatization so as to learn how this culture affects consumer preferences. 

Entering into the retail market has seen companies adopt a mid to long term approaches by focusing on how retail zones in a particular catchment area can be developed (Reuvid & Terterov, 2005). The strategies adopted in the retailing sector so as to present products to the market have to consider that the Polish society is becoming continuously accommodative of women role in the market.  The various transformations experienced in the market over the past few years have increased the buying potential of women, but still, women bare the family responsibilities. Such transformations have not affected much the family model and various roles in the families. As such business in various sectors including the fashion industry have had to focus on the role played by various genders in the retail market in terms of buying and how the various products can be presented to this market.  The fact that education is being attained by both genders, retail businesses have had to change their merchandising strategies so that women become part of the target major consumers.   Another issue concerns to the various generational gap within the Polish population. The organizations operating in this country have had to adopt different methods of communicating to the younger generation where they use symbolic and multivalent adverts (Kujawińska et. al 2011). For the older generation, most are still used to the previous culture seen in lifestyle existing during communism where there was rarely independent thinking.  The old generation is in need of interpretation so that they can embrace abstract messages (Batra, 1999). In addition, in the fashion industry, products displays and presentation has mostly focused on the younger generations where the communism cultural hangovers are barely present.

The Polish culture, on the other hand, has largely been influenced by other foreign cultures since the country has observed various occupation of its territory by a number of political powers in the region.  The fashion industry has, therefore, adopted a mixture of designs originating from different countries to offer apparel products to the local market. Following the communist regimes, cultural changes were being experienced across the society as people got used to more wealth (Kujawińska et. al 2011). Moreover, information from foreign countries was flowing and the Poles wanted to look like their fellow western neighbors. Through magazines, newspapers and the internet, companies are now able to access the current partly westernized culture. This change in a culture informed the development of fashion sector so that it was not only designing but presenting various designs and products to the market. Fashion shows, events, and fairs became popular and the fashion companies are using this platform to showcase their products to their potential and existing customers. These events have been facilitated by an attractive Polish market whose defining characteristics include the large size of cities and country itself and economic stability whose culture boost of a population with a high consumer confidence. Such has enabled the fashion companies to use the shows, events, and fairs as a great merchandising platform or strategy. Some of these companies include Reykjavik District, NOH8 SNDCT, Reserved, LLP, and Presto.  For instance, the most significant fashion event is the Poland Fashion Week which is cyclic and has been held twice a year since 2009 in Lodz (Łęczycka, 2014).  Due to a market where both genders have been actively involved in the market, the shows have become all inclusive. These shows also include exclusive Polish fashion and the foreign fashion.  Designers have played an important role in presenting of various products in all this industry. The presence of these designers has seen global companies result to giant chains retail shops and these designers have intended to benefit from these shops. However, the market is controlled by the chain shops whose apparel products are more affordable to the local people. 

Due to a culture that enhances consumer confidence, there has been an enormous growth in e-commerce, in terms of e-commerce. Companies are finding it easy to use the online retail platform to display their products the consumers and this has seen more shopper penetration in the market. The use of social media has become a significant part of Polish culture which has seen more and more Poles try online shopping. The online platform has become a strategy being pursued by firms to increase their sales in a very dynamic culture. In addition, cross-border online shopping has grown greatly due to the realization of multinational firms of the large market in Poland (Sielewicz, 2015). This has seen the various online retailers reach more customers nationally since they sell their products including fashion products at lower competitive prices. To compete effectively and successfully in this online market, firms have had to provide most favorable payment mix and focus on delivering options that are preferable in this culture.  The various adopted approaches have had to comply with a culture which is highly diversified, increasingly liberal so that it offers high consumer confidence across the entire market including the fashion industry (Reuvid & Terterov, 2005). This culture is still family centered and hence all genders play an important role in determining how merchandising will be done by businesses or entrepreneurs.

In Poland the most celebrated holidays are religious holidays and include the Easter and Christmas holidays. Like in many part of Europe, the retail market is a bit active during the various national holidays especially the religious holidays. Sales boosts even in the fashion industry are experienced during these periods, but the amount of sales is also affected by factors such as the weather during holidays.  Such periods can prove to be challenging to the retail market when customers scale down on their buying trends experienced during favorable weathers (British Polish Chamber of Commerce, 2017). The effects of holidays on Poland’s retail market may not be significantly influenced by the celebrations of these holidays.

Presently, the Polish-Americans still keep their customs and heritage and they even tend to promote them to those who have married into their families. Though there are some Poles who have been assimilated into the American- culture, many especially among the older generation value their culture. The merchandising approaches used in Poland have been mixed and assimilated into the American merchandising strategies, in line with consumer preference in the United States that are different from that in Poland.  The retail landscape in Poland comprises of increasing number of companies whose growth is being driven by higher sales turnover.  The retail industry has been benefiting from prospects of better consumer demand driven by more household consumption while cases of bankruptcy among retail firms have been decreasing significantly (Sielewicz, 2015).  However, competition in retail market is intense and this has been reducing profits for retailers but this reduction is offset by an improving macroeconomic environment.  Being among the best country in Europe in regard to the macroeconomic environment, merchandising is seeing more action from foreign retail chains (Sielewicz, 2015).  These foreign firms have dominated the market by taking advantage of large-scale bargaining power which allows them to offer very attractive prices for customers.  This means that macroeconomic situation in Poland has been strongly connected to the performance of the retail sector, and in turn affecting merchandising in the country. With a very large population and a liberal culture, there has been a strong growth in households and private consumption that has been driving the improved shopping in the retail market.

Reference

Batra, R. (1999). Marketing Issues in Transitional Economies. Boston, MA: Springer US. 282-285

Kujawińska-Courtney, K., Łukowska, M. A., & Williams, E. (2011). European culture in diversity. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. 49-50\

Reuvid, J., & Terterov, M. (2005). Doing business with Poland. GMB Pub. 103,108,253

Sielewicz, G., (2015).Poland Retail Sector – Household spending is supporting the economy but challenges remain. Retrieved from: http://www.iberglobal.com/files/2016/poland_retail_coface.pdf

 

Łęczycka,M.,(2014).Polish fashion industry. Retrieved from: http://www.flandersinvestmentandtrade.com/export/sites/trade/files/news/540140415123947/540140415123947_1.pdf

 

British Polish Chamber of Commerce, (2017).The Polish Year . retrieved from: http://bpcc.org.pl/en/news/the-polish-year-2017