Price now outranks quality for Polish shoppers, new survey finds

Price pulls ahead of quality

• A new survey shows price has overtaken quality as the top buying criterion for Polish consumers.
• Willingness to pay more for better quality fell from 82.9 percent in 2024 to 59.2 percent in 2026.
• Promotions and store proximity also rank highly, while discount chains now hold over half of the market.

Price is now the main factor shaping what Poles put in their shopping baskets. In a survey published on 21 October by the Teraz Polska Foundation, 88.5 percent of respondents named price among their three most important criteria, against 76.1 percent for quality (Polacy zmienili sposób robienia zakupów. Cena wyprzedziła jakość – biznesinfo.pl). The study covered 1,010 adults. Two years earlier the order was reversed: 87.3 percent chose quality and 76.4 percent chose price.

Willingness to pay more drops

The shift is clearest in attitudes toward premium goods. In 2026, 59.2 percent of respondents said they would pay more for a higher-quality product, compared with 82.9 percent in 2024 (Wolą produkty gorszej jakości, byle było taniej. Polaków przycisnęła inflacja – RMF24). Lower-income respondents were the least willing, at 37.7 percent.

Promotions and proximity matter too

Price is not the only factor. Promotions and the distance to a store each drew more than 40 percent of answers, while price alone was chosen by 50.6 percent (Cena wciąż rządzi zakupami Polaków. Nowe badanie pokazuje, co jeszcze się liczy – rp.pl). Retailers are leaning heavily on discounts that encourage unplanned purchases, which nearly three in four Poles say they respond to.

Origin still counts for some

Domestic origin remains a consideration. Some 82.8 percent of respondents said they would choose Polish products when possible, though country of origin ranked only third among decision criteria, named by 24.4 percent. Ecology, quality marks and packaging were far less important.

Retail structure

Discount chains now control more than half of the Polish grocery market, while large hypermarkets have not taken over as some forecasts had predicted.