Polish E-Commerce Platform Allegro Surges 63% On Stock Market Debut

The mood music today was good for Allegro. (Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA … [+]
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The surge pushed the value of the company up from an implied opening market capitalization of $11.7 billion to just over $19 billion—indicating just how eager both institutional and retail investors are for online stocks during the Covid-19 pandemic, as high demand for e-commerce services continues.
In the case of Allegro, its strong market position in Poland makes it an attractive proposition. In its September analysis, SimilarWeb ranks the allegro.pl site fourth in the country behind the .com sites of Internet giants Google
Allegro processed an average of 32 million monthly transactions in the 12 months to June by connecting more than 12.3 million active buyers with over 117,000 merchants.
Those merchants use the group’s online marketplace to sell products across very varied categories including electronics, home and garden; sports and leisure; kids; automotive; fashion and shoes; health and beauty; books, media, collectibles and art; and supermarket goods.
According to Allegro, its marketplace platform attracts the equivalent of 63% of Polish residents aged 16 and above, and 76% of all Internet users in Poland, the European Union’s fifth most populous country with just over 38 million inhabitants.
Will online’s share of retail sales stall?
The retail market in Poland had seen continuous and rapid growth from 2013 to 2019,