10 minute read
Retail market reshuffle
EXPERT OPINION
SUPPORTING THE INDIVIDUAL RETAILER
Small individual retailers need a large partner to be able to withstand the growing pressure put on them by large retail chains. For the SPAR Group, having store owners who are part of and know their local communities is a great opportunity to develop a loyal customer base, says Tomasz Syller, Chief Executive Officer at Wasz Sklep SPAR
INTERVIEW BY BEATA SOCHA
WBJ: The SPAR Group has recently taken over the remaining Piotr i Paweł stores. What plans does SPAR Group have for the Polish market?
Tomasz Syller: Following UOKiK’s positive decision on July 17, we began cooperation with the Piotr i Paweł team with a view to ensure we remain true to the legacy of the brand and retain the best of what Piotr i Paweł had to offer Polish consumers. We are now focused on building relationships with all our new partners in order to create the best possible offer for our customers. For example, we have already started the training process, making plans to upgrade existing shops, and in the coming weeks consumers will start to see a normalization of stock availability as we conclude our negotiations with suppliers and further extend the product offer. I’m sure our consumers will welcome the positive changes.
SPAR as a model is extremely flexible and can cater for any market. We run a variety of different formats; from the small SPAR Express format, to the medium Spar, large Eurospar and the hypermarket type Interspar. One of the key elements of our success in the past has been the ability to customize our offering to the immediate community that our respective stores and formats serve. In almost every case the product offering will be common in some respects, while unique in others. Polish economy and the opportunity for growth that it provides. I think that Poland will be one of the most exciting markets for the development of the SPAR brand. It is one of very few markets that still has a vibrant retail economy with an additional attraction; namely, that there is still a large number of independent retailers who trade and make a living in the country. What is more, the market is rapidly evolving with the entrance of many large retail chains. This is precisely the challenge that we have faced in many countries around the world, where major chains have become more dominant, putting pressure on smaller independent retailers who no longer have the power or support to compete with them.
Unfortunately, the future of independent retail in Poland, without a large partner, will end up being the same as in the rest of the world. Individual retailers will gradually disappear as they become less and less competitive. It is this trend that we have stopped in close to 50 countries where we operate around the world, allowing the small independent retailer to act like a big player because they have the backing to do so. Without successful retailers we don’t have a business. It’s a very simple philosophy that works across the ten countries where The SPAR Group is present, and this is how we intend to operate in Poland.
Some retail brands have gone under in recent years. Where do you see the market headed in the future?
We have a very positive outlook on the
What are your observations regarding Poles’ shopping habits? Are they in any way different from other European countries?
One key observation for me is the amount of shopping that gets done in terms of frequency and across many supermarket brands. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. It’s challenging in that loyalty to a single brand is rare, but an opportunity in that if you are able to create a comprehensive shopping solution which provides the best experience combined with competitive pricing, you should be able to create more loyalty to your store. We have the unique advantage in that our owners are part of their communities and have a far more in-depth knowledge of the people that support their stores. This is a great platform from which to develop loyal customers. Support your community and in turn they will support you. As opposed to corporate managers who earn a monthly salary, independent retailers run their businesses to look after their families and increase their own wealth as a result. This is the best motivator for a successful business, and also for creating an offer best suited to serve the needs of your customers.
Tomasz Syller, Chief Executive Officer at Wasz Sklep SPAR
TECH insights
TECH NEWS
E-scooters bring new profession to Poland
Electric scooters have quickly conquered Polish cities. They have also created a new profession – scooter loaders, also known by experts as “juicers.” Their earnings can reach up to PLN6,000 net. Ingenious juicers who, for example, use bicycles with trailers instead of moving by car, can earn even more.
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TECH
Investments in start-ups reached record high level in Q2
The Polish venture capital industry showed record-high investments in the second quarter and its value may reach over PLN 1 billion in 2019 if growth remains at the current level, Inovo Venture Partners fund said. Transactions in the second quarter totaled PLN 444.2 million, which is more than the total investment in 2018.
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WSE to launch WSE Data system in 2021
The National Center for Research and Development (NCBR) awarded the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) co-financing from EU funds to build WSE Data system, the stock exchange said. The project’s budget is about PLN 8.3 million, of which PLN 4.2 million will come from co-financing by NCBR. The system implementation is scheduled for the second half of 2021.
“The automation of sharing and analyzing stock market data is very important for the development of the Polish capital market. This project will allow us to set new trends in creating modern technological solutions on the Polish capital market,” WSE board member Piotr Borowski said in a statement.
Apple sues Corellium for creating ‘perfect replicas’ of iOS
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“Although Corellium paints itself as Big changes for bank customers to come in September
On September 14 this year, the European Commission’s Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) regulations of the come into force. They are to increase the security of using electronic payment services and thus limit the possibility of fraud associated with these services.
The new requirements are also to secure so-called open banking customers. The EU revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) provides that, with the clients’ consent, banks are to provide access to their payment accounts to licensed, external entities, namely other banks, developers of financial programs and applications, payment services, known as TPP (third-party providers).
According to the new regulations, transactions on card readers will have to be validated with a PIN code either after every five transactions or after the total payment amount has exceeded EUR 150. Another change is the strong customer authentication (SCA) when logging into a bank via the internet. It will involve a minimum of two separate elements to prove the client’s identity.
providing a research tool for those trying to discover security vulnerabilities and other flaws in Apple’s software, Corellium’s true goal is profiting off its blatant infringement,” Apple said in the complaint.
“There is no basis for Corellium to be selling a product that allows the creation of avowedly perfect replicas of Apple’s devices to anyone willing to pay,” it added.
T-Bull records 4.5 mln game downloads in July
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T-Bull specializes in creating mobile games based on the Free-to-Play (F2P) payment model. In August 2018, the company debuted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange main market.
Polish start-up to educate Arabic IT specialists
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Tesla introduces solar roof rental system
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AI copywriter writes better ads than humans can
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constitute 55 percent of educational institutions in the United Arab Emirates.
The company also joined the government program One Million Arab Coders, managed by Dubai Future Foundation. It was involved in creating a skills assessment system for young programmers.
Poland considering use of social scoring
Social scoring, i.e. checking creditworthiness based on data from social networking sites, may soon spread on the Polish market. There has already been a credit platform (Akredo.pl) that offers such opportunities, but banks are still not reaching for this method of collecting information about potential customers, Puls Biznesu (PB) daily reported.
Banks said they do not use social media in the credit process yet as there is not enough added value. Among others, this was the answer given by the Pekao press office. ING does not consider such a solution, mBank does not comment on the matter. PKO BP is considering using social media to assess creditworthiness. However, this requires the integration of the offer with e-commerce channels and building an integrated customer experience.Experts say social scoring may be an efficient tool in the Polish market due to the popularity of social networking platforms.
Swedish payment company Klarna has become the most expensive fintech in Europe. In the last financing round, the start-up accumulated $460 million and was valued at $5.5 billion. According to the Financial Times, the company falls in eighth place on the list of the most expensive fintechs in the world.
The company will use its funds to expand in the US market, where it acquires about 6 million customers annually. In addition, it is expected to enter markets in New Zealand and Australia. The Swedish founder of Polish origin, Sebastian Siemiątkowski, admitted that the more markets the company covers, the better. Klarna’s investors include Snoop Dogg, Visa, Sequoia Capital and Hennes & Mauritz – the owner of the H&M clothing network.
