Poles rarely use buyer protection programs: survey
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Already 57 percent of Polish consumers are more likely to choose online shopping instead of going to a brick-and-mortar store. However, the growing popularity of e-shopping does not go hand in hand with the awareness of the security rights of buyers in the event of possible irregularities. According to the study "The problems of Poles when shopping online" carried out on behalf of PayPal in May this year, every fifth person who buys online has encountered some kind of fraud, and usually it concerned not receiving the purchased product (68 percent) or receiving an article with lower values (15 percent).
Forecasts indicate that the accelerated growth of interest in online shopping observed last year will also continue in the coming years. Almost 85 percent of Poles, after the end of the pandemic, do not intend to reduce the frequency of e-shopping, and as many as 82 percent plans to spend more money online in 2021 than in the previous year. No wonder – online shopping has many advantages. Customers choose them mainly because of the convenience (51 percent), time savings (46 percent), the ability to compare the offers of various stores (41 percent), as well as access to a wider range of products (39 percent).
However, it is worth remembering that when deciding to shop online, consumers may encounter unforeseen and, unfortunately, not always pleasant situations. As shown by a recent PayPal survey, 19 percent of online shoppers have faced a scam.
Although buyer protection programs enable a more comfortable and calmer online shopping experience, they are still not very popular among Polish consumers. Although as many as 57 percent of online shoppers have encountered them, only 37 percent have ever used them.
“Poles are experienced e-consumers. 86 percent of respondents declare that they have been shopping online for at least four years, and 21 percent say that they shop online once a week or more often. It is even more surprising that they so rarely resort to security programs,” Efi Dahan, PayPal Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Israel, said.
(WBJ)
