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The holiday shopping season kicks off earlier than ever

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November 27, 2025

Keeping up with the consumer

Polish consumers are entering the rhythm of holiday preparations faster than ever before. What used to begin in early December now starts in many households as early as November.

Television, online, and in-store advertising effectively capture attention — although, as more than 60% of respondents admit, Christmas marketing campaigns begin far too early. Yet brands, especially in the FMCG sector, can’t afford to wait.

In a world where customer preferences shift almost daily, speed and data-driven analysis become essential.
That’s where modern technologies come in — including In-Pulse, a platform setting a new standard for the next era of consumer research

Nearly one in three Poles (29%) purchase Christmas products as early as November, and two in five start buying gifts in the first half of December. What’s more, 48% shop in advance, and 14% plan their purchases in detail.

Source: „Polaków portfel własny: E-commerce od święta’’

Adressing the complexity of shopper decisions

In such a fast-changing environment, brands need tools that help them act faster and smarter. One answer is In-Pulse — the new analytics platform created by Stagwell and Żabka Polska.
Its power lies in an extensive data ecosystem covering over 12,000 Żabka stores and around 4.2 million daily transactions.

By leveraging artificial intelligence, In-Pulse creates an environment where marketers can plan, test, and optimize campaigns with unprecedented precision.

It’s the first platform enabling real-time dialogue with shoppers through a single-source model — drawing insights from one consistent data stream. This allows brands to quickly test concepts, validate campaigns, and adjust their offers to real consumer expectations before investing in full-scale rollouts.

Artur Puszkiewicz, Head of Research & Analytics, In-Pulse

Personalization grounded in facts, not declarations

In-Pulse also opens a new chapter in personalization and loyalty building.
Today’s consumers increasingly expect communication that reflects their actual needs.
The platform analyzes real shopping behaviors — from price sensitivity and pack design, to promotional messaging and even product placement on the shelf.

Global marketing is moving away from consumer declarations toward the observation of real behaviors — a shift redefining the entire industry.
In-Pulse is part of this transformation, giving brands the ability to work with data that reflects actions, not intentions.

Anna Pańczyk, CEO In-Pulse

Nowadays, when digital commerce evolves at lightning speed and shopping apps become part of daily life, this level of precision is crucial. In-Pulse seamlessly combines data, technology, and shopper understanding, enabling brands to act with clarity and confidence.

In a world where purchase decisions are made faster than ever — and holiday emotions rise months before Christmas — tools like In-Pulse are no longer optional.
They’re essential.

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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

In-Pulse is a research and analytics system that enables marketers to fully understand shopper behaviors and preferences, target with precision, and evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing activities.

This has become possible through a partnership between Żabka Polska and Stagwell Inc., providing access to insights based on transactional data from the Żappka mobile app.

This knowledge makes it possible to understand shopper behavior derived from real transactions — not just declarations.

As a result, In-Pulse measures the “pulse” of Polish consumers in real time, empowering brands to enhance the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

In-Pulse brings together, in one place, a full range of services that enable marketers to deeply understand who the shoppers within the Żabka network are, how their purchase behaviors are shaped, what influences their decisions, which products attract them most, and which types of marketing communication truly resonate.

Marketers can use this knowledge to reach shoppers at the most relevant time and place — with the confidence that they’re targeting people who actually buy, not just those who claim certain behaviors.

In-Pulse is built on a single-source data architecture, ensuring consistency and comparability of insights. It also enables marketers to measure the effects of their activities in relation to changes in brand perception and sales performance.

All of this allows Polish marketers to quickly access high-quality insights that help them:

  • manage marketing and media budgets more effectively
  • increase return on investment
  • drive sales growth

In-Pulse is an innovative solution that enables an unprecedented level of insight into Polish consumers — their motivations, preferences, and purchase decisions — based on transactional data, not just declarations.

It allows for the creation of built on solid, reliable foundation - data flowing in from millions of transactions captured daily at thousands of Żabka stores.

With In-Pulse, you can:

  • see how consumers respond to a new product, service, or product variant
  • measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns by tracking changes in brand perception and product sales
  • understand the motivations and shopping journeys of specific shopper segments
  • identify what drives category volume — shopper segment, purchase mission, or consumption occasion

The In-Pulse solution is designed for a wide range of companies — both within and beyond the FMCG sector.

By combining insights derived from transactional data analysis with the ability to deepen shopper understanding through in-app surveys, In-Pulse enables both endemic and non-endemic brands — across industries such as beauty, pharmaceuticals, finance, insurance, automotive, and telecommunications — to gain fast and precise insights into consumer behaviors, preferences, and motivations.

All it takes is a quick call or a message through the contact form below — and we’ll guide you through the entire process:

  • We’ll start with a short intro meeting, where we’ll walk you through how the In-Pulse system works and its capabilities — from understanding your audience and exploring their preferences and shopping habits, to testing product and creative concepts, reaching the right consumers with the right message, and tracking campaign effectiveness.
  • Next, we’ll ask you to share your challenge or hypothesis you’d like to test. Based on that, our team of experts will prepare a tailored research proposal made up of products that will help you find the answers you’re looking for.
  • Don’t worry — you don’t need to have everything ready from day one. In-Pulse is a single-source system, which means that once your consumer segments are built, you can reuse them in future studies and analyses.
  • As our collaboration develops, you’ll be able to monitor how your target group’s behaviors, needs, and preferences evolve — as well as how they perceive your brand, service, or product.
  • This will allow you to respond in real time, optimize your strategies, and deepen your understanding of the areas that matter most to your business at any given moment.