The implications of the economic crisis for polish consumer behaviours

Objectives: The economic crisis, affecting with varying intensity a host of countries across the world, has not gone unnoticed among Polish consumers and households. Many of them, and especially those with lower income – notwithstanding the Polish economy’s relatively bright performance,  compared to the declining GDP and recession in other markets – found it imperative to cut down on consumer spending and revise their pre-crisis consumption patterns.

In Poland the consequences of the recent economic crisis were not so dramatic as in other countries, however the country’s economic slowdown had its impact on the standards of living and behaviours of Polish consumers and households, resulting, inter alia, in rationalisation of consumer behaviours and spending.

The paper will be focused on the analysis of the implications of the economic slowdown for consumer behaviours of contemporary Poles. The basic objective of the paper will be to provide an empirical insight and  highlight major issues related to the impact of the crisis on Poles’ consumer behaviours on the basis of the available research findings and author’s own empirical research.

Data/Methods: The intention of the author is to identify and highlight changes in the Poles’ consumer behaviours under conditions of the economic crisis using diverse data sources. The author is going to draw upon the latest available research findings, reports and statistical data related to the subject. They will be accompanied  by the findings of the author’s own questionnaire research conducted in 2015 focused on the impact of the crisis on Poles’ consumer behaviours.

Expected results: The author would like to identify major changes in the consumer behaviours of Polish consumers and highlight challenges resulting from changing consumer attitudes and behaviours. The paper should provide conclusions and policy recommendations enabling better functioning of the Poland’s economy after economic slowdown.