Half of Poles to buy Christmas gifts online: report

Courier companies operating in the country are likely to deliver 40 million more parcels in 2018 as a whole, a 20-percent increase from last year, the Rzeczpospolita daily has reported.

Online shopping in Poland is increasingly popular and was further boosted by restrictions introduced this year on brick-and-mortar Sunday trading, according to Rzeczpospolita.

Trading in Poland this year has been banned on two Sundays each month. Next year the ban will be stepped up to three Sundays a month.

In 2020, trading will be forbidden on all Sundays except seven.

The ban does not apply to online stores.

"December will see yet another record in the number of delivered parcels," a spokesperson for Poczta Polska, the state-owned postal group, was quoted by the paper as saying.

However, according to the daily, courier companies might not have enough hands on deck to deliver all parcels on time.

The delivery sector might need 7,000 additional workers for the holiday season starting on Black Friday, November 23, and ending after Christmas, the paper added.

Some of the biggest companies in the sector, such as DHL, Poczta Polska and DPD, are already recruiting new staff and offering increased salaries.

Experts quoted by the daily say December 14 is the last call to place orders online for Christmas presents to make sure they arrive on time.

Meanwhile, between 60 and 70 percent of gifts are usually ordered less than two weeks before Christmas.

(tf/gs)