PMR’s report: Poles cut down on expenses but fashion does not come first

PMR’s estimates indicate that in 2022 the market will record growth again, mainly on the back of increased demand for clothing and footwear (as social life is getting back to normal), price rises and higher market potential in volume terms (due to the influx of refugees from Ukraine). Still, inflation is a constraint on real growth of the market (we expect it to reach 14% YoY in real terms).

In 2021 the value of the clothing and footwear retail market – as a result of a low base and deferred demand after the previous year – increased by 22% in nominal terms, according to PMR’s report Clothing and footwear retail market in Poland 2022. Market analysis and development forecasts for 2022-2027.

Price increases are some of the key challenges for the market now and will continue to be so in the coming years. Between 2022 and 2023, we expect around 14% inflation on an annual basis. Prices of clothing and footwear will also go up, but at a lower rate than overall inflation. However, price increases in other product categories will reduce the purchasing power of Polish consumers, affecting their shopping decisions, also for fashion items.

According to PMR’s forecast, at the beginning of 2023, inflation will record its peak, reaching around 20%, while growth in prices should gradually slow down, thanks to e.g. base effects. However, it will continue to remain at a markedly high level, compared to the previous years. The turn of the year is also most feared by fashion retailers we spoke to when preparing the report.

Magdalena Filip
Retail Business Unit Deputy Director at PMR

In August 2022 PMR conducted a survey on a purposive random sample of respondents. At the recruitment stage of the survey, basic demographic variables – gender, age and place of residence – were considered in order to make the sample structure as similar as possible to the overall Polish population. The survey showed that 80% of the respondents already declare they are cutting down on their spending (in general), but it is not smaller clothing and footwear purchases where they look for major savings.

According to PMR’s study, food services are primarily to experience the effects of consumers’ slashing their household budgets. 59% of the those declaring reduced shopping said that they were limiting their spending on food delivery, eating out and going out to spend their free time. That was also the category most frequently cited by the respondents as one where their spending was reduced most. It was followed by retail segments where the average amounts spent on a single visit to a shop are high (home furnishings, consumer electronics). However, 45% of the respondents who reduce their spending do so in the case of clothing and footwear, although only 5% treat this category as the main area to look for savings. The oldest consumers far more frequently say that they are cutting down on fashion purchases (56% of those aged 55 or more versus 40% of the respondents up to 34 years of age).

According to PMR, lower spending on clothing and footwear does not yet involve seeking other ways to be supplied with such items. Those who reduce their fashion purchases are not more frequent second-hand shoppers, do not exchange clothes or shoes more often, and do not repair their worn or damaged clothes more often than consumers who do not limit their fashion spending.

• value of the market in the years 2012-2021 and development forecast up to 2027,
• market structure by price and product segments,
• macroeconomic, supply-side, demand-side and legislative factors shaping the situation in the clothing and footwear retail market in Poland,
• ranking and profiles of major players,
• psychographic segmentation of clothing and footwear buyers,
• unaided and aided awareness of fashion brands.

It contains a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the Polish clothing and footwear retail market, broken down by product (clothing, footwear) and price segments, as well as the retail formats in which purchases are made (chain clothing and footwear stores, online sales, non-chain clothing and footwear stores, large-format grocery stores, marketplaces and open-air markets).