Polish B2B marketing – statistics and insights you should know

Are you planning communications activities aimed at a Polish customer in the B2B sector? Knowing your industry and having a great product or service alone is not enough. Check out the latest data on Polish B2B marketing – here are the statistics and insights you must know to get started!

Table of contents

I. Number and condition of Polish enterprises

II. The state of marketing in Polish companies 

III. The B2B sector in Poland

IV. How to promote to the B2B sector in Poland?

I. Number and condition of Polish enterprises

• According to data from the Central Statistical Office, there are more than 4.8 million registered enterprises in Poland. In the second quarter of 2022 alone, 93,660 new business registrations were recorded – 1.3% more than in the same period the previous year.

Increase in the number of business registrations in Poland according to CSO data

• The highest number of business registrations is currently recorded in the information and communication sector (37%), transport and storage (13.9%). However, there has been a slight decline in the catering, trade, and accommodation sectors. 

• Compared to the previous year, the number of company bankruptcies in Poland fell in 2022 – in the second quarter, the number amounted to only 80, which was almost 5% lower than in the same period of 2021. 

• The structure of Polish companies is currently as follows: 97.0% – micro enterprises, 2.2% – small enterprises, 0.6% – medium enterprises, 0.2% – large enterprises.

• The largest number of companies are engaged in service activities (52.9%). This is followed by trade (21.6%), construction (15.4%), and industry (10%).

• Poland is the fifth country in the European Union with the largest number of enterprises, after Italy (3.61 million), France (2.97 million), Spain (2.69 million), and Germany (2.59 million).

• Poland has come out of the pandemic unscathed and compares favourably with other European economies. Polish companies are recording an increasing share of the trade in goods. In 2010, Poland was the European leader in furniture sales, and in 2020 in monitors.

•  4.3% of companies in Poland (97.8 thousand) sell goods abroad. 0.9% of Polish firms (20.4 thousand) are responsible for service exports.

II. The state of marketing in Polish companies 

•  More than 80% of business owners in Poland are convinced of the key role of marketing in building a company’s success. 

• More and more Polish enterprises are beginning to perceive a company website as a key marketing tool. In 2021, 71.4% of enterprises registered in Poland declared having their website. Large companies are the leader here (93.7%), but small companies are not far behind (67.2%). Interestingly, in this respect, Poland is ahead of many EU countries, including France (70%). 

• A company website is most often used to present goods and services (catalogues, price lists). It is indicated as its main purpose by 66.8% of companies.

• 22.3% of Polish companies declare that their website is used for posting information about job vacancies.

• More than 45% of companies in Poland use social media. Most often these are large companies (77.7%). This percentage increased after the COVID-19 pandemic.

• There have also been big changes in Polish marketing due to the war in Ukraine. There is a growing demand for security-related products and the need to build an offer for Ukrainian customers.

III. The B2B sector in Poland 

• In Poland, approximately 2 million companies operate in the B2B sector. 

• In B2B companies, as many as 69% of respondents admit they have a planned marketing strategy, while 26% have no strategy at all! 

• The most popular marketing objectives indicated by Polish B2B companies are: brand presence in the media, number of leads acquired, meeting sales targets, financial results, website traffic, and social media traffic. 

The most popular B2B marketing objectives in Poland 

• Only 31% of B2B companies in Poland plan their marketing activities a year in advance. Most often companies invest in ad hoc activities – which of course is a huge mistake. 1/3 of respondents do not plan communications activities at all! 75% of large enterprises plan such activities a minimum of 3 months in advance.

• The creation and planning of a marketing strategy in the B2B sector in Poland is most often done by the marketing department (80%), the management (66%), and the sales department (61%). Other responses included the finance department and logistics!

• One of the biggest problems in B2B marketing in Poland is the lack of cooperation and information on the strategy of other departments within the company.

IV. How to promote yourself to the B2B sector in Poland?

•  The average cost of acquiring a B2B customer in Poland is approximately 500 PLN. 

• 25% of Polish B2B companies have an annual marketing budget of between 100 thousand and 1 million PLN. 21% of companies indicate that it is above one million PLN, and 20% indicate a budget of less than 10 thousand PLN. Most companies indicate that their marketing budget is between 1-5% of turnover. Interestingly, 20% of respondents do not know how much they invest in marketing on an annual basis!

• According to the report ‘B2B marketing – potential, strength, trends, and development directions’, during the purchasing process, the average buyer spends 27% of their time searching for information about a product or service online. 77% of B2B buyers do not contact a salesperson before doing their own research on a company blog or social media. 

• 57% of Polish B2B enterprises focus on providing education and expert content. Indeed, as research shows, customer education is the strongest driver of purchase.

• B2B entrepreneurs in Poland cite the following as the main ways to reach customers: activities of salespeople, recommendations from previous customers, website and social media. 

• Other ways to generate sales include: activities with existing customers (up-sell, cross-selling), content marketing, tenders, partner programs, PR activities, and customer workshops.

• An increasingly popular way to promote a company in the B2B sector is to combine salespeople’s activities with social media activity, e.g. through brand ambassador programs carried out on LinkedIn by current employees of the company.

• One in three B2B business owners consider visual identification of the company to be important in daily communication, and one in five considers entertainment-based communication to be important.

• The most frequently cited channels used to reach the B2B customer are the website (65%), LinkedIn (53%), Facebook (46%), content marketing (46%) and webinars (39%). 

The most popular marketing tools in the Polish B2B sector.

• Polish entrepreneurs consider customer service, events and fairs, and advertising in trade media to be the least effective activities. Email marketing and online events were similarly rated low. 

• Digital transformation is considered the biggest trend in marketing by business owners in Poland (23%). 58% indicate that one of the biggest challenges in marketing will be the use of new communication channels. 47% believe that there will be a need to personalise products and services, and 31% consider interactive content to be the biggest trend worth investing.

• B2B companies are quicker than B2C ones to recognise the need to use new technologies in their work.

• Over 36% of B2B companies do not conduct even the simplest marketing research. One in three companies conduct research themselves and 23% use a research agency. It is not worth saving and not investing in research. Lack of research in any form (not even customer surveys) means we don’t know which direction to go in.

• If you are planning effective B2B marketing in Poland, understand the customer buying process well. The purchase path in B2B companies is studied in only half of companies (48%)! Most entrepreneurs and marketers base their knowledge of the customer’s purchase path on their own judgement, unsupported by any research. This is a big mistake!

Are you planning communications activities to a Polish customer in the B2B sector? Contact us for support! As an experienced B2B PR agency from Poland, we can help you plan an effective communication strategy. Contact us and arrange a discovery call!