1. Retail is already more than a quarter of Wolt's revenue — and growing faster than food
Since 2015, Wolt has delivered more than 230 million retail orders, and more than 2 million people order retail products on the platform each month. Retail accounts for more than a quarter of Wolt's global sales (based on Q4 2025), and the number of active retail venues has exceeded 40,000 — up 43% year on year (Wolt Newsroom; full methodology in the Wolt Retail Report 2026). The value of grocery orders placed through Wolt grew 46% in 2025.
The key is not a single demand spike but a shift in habits: 6 in 10 retail customers place another order the following month, and 48% of grocery baskets now contain 10 or more items — customers treat the platform as a full shop, not as an emergency quick purchase. Moreover, 28% of consumers made their first purchase with a retailer via Wolt — this is a customer-acquisition channel, not just an order-fulfilment one.
| Metric | Value | Cited in |
|---|---|---|
| Retail share of Wolt revenue | >1/4 (Q4 2025) | Wolt Newsroom |
| Retail orders since 2015 | 230M+ | Wolt Newsroom |
| Retail customers / month | 2M+ | Wolt Newsroom |
| Active retail venues | 40K+, +43% YoY | Wolt Newsroom |
| Grocery value growth 2025 | +46% | Wolt Newsroom |
| Grocery baskets with 10+ items | 48% | Wolt Newsroom |
| Customer returns the following month | 6/10 | Wolt Newsroom |
| First purchase with a retailer via Wolt | 28% of customers | Wolt Newsroom |
2. On-demand in Poland: q-commerce breaks away from "food delivery"
Poland is following the same path — and concrete numbers are already visible. The online groceries and quick commerce market in Poland was valued at around USD 640 million in 2025, with a forecast CAGR of roughly 21.5% to about USD 1.5 billion by 2031; key players include Żabka, Carrefour Polska and Lidl Polska (Ken Research). Estimates from the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG), based on GUS data, show Polish e-commerce closing 2025 at roughly PLN 92 billion (+6.8% YoY, a 9.1% share of retail trade), with the food segment (e-grocery) posting a record +42.9% YoY in December (KIG / e-biznes.pl).
Foreign platforms are entering too. Glovo has operated in Poland since 2019 and positions itself as a market leader by sales value and order volume: roughly 10,000 couriers per day across more than 200 cities, over 10 million app downloads. According to PAP MediaRoom, 25% of Glovo's app turnover already comes from non-food categories, and the company aims for non-food to overtake restaurant delivery by 2030. Pyszne.pl, meanwhile, sums up 15 years of the Polish market with a base of 3.6 million active users and 17,000 partners (Just Eat Takeaway.com), expanding beyond restaurants into non-restaurant delivery — including an e-grocery partnership with Carrefour (Omnichannel News) and growth into same-day delivery (Rzeczpospolita).
The conclusion for the Polish market: the on-demand model is no longer just a food channel. It is becoming a full-fledged FMCG and non-food channel, and chains that treat it as "just another delivery marketplace" risk losing key categories — and customers — to players that can assemble a full basket on time.
3. Petcare in the on-demand channel: why it is the winning category
In the Wolt report, pet supplies — alongside electronics and health & beauty — more than tripled their share of the platform's retail sales since 2022 (Wolt Newsroom). This is precisely the category that classic retail tends to treat as "more store-based" — and the data shows the opposite: it is among the fastest-growing in express delivery.
The Polish signal is even stronger and directly about petcare. According to Glovo data cited by PAP MediaRoom (12.05.2026), in 2025 the platform recorded growth of 333% year on year in pet supplies in Poland — the largest among the non-food categories listed (for comparison: home articles and decoration +42% YoY, flowers +28% YoY). This is a strong signal that petcare is becoming a category of regular on-demand purchases, not incidental delivery.
- Recurrence and basket size — 48% of Wolt grocery baskets contain 10+ items, and 6/10 retail customers return the following month. For petcare, where food is bought on a rhythm, this fits naturally with the "full weekly shop" model (Wolt Newsroom).
- Pet supplies as an onboarding segment — 28% of customers made their first purchase with a retailer via the platform. Pet supplies bring chains new customers, not just sales (Wolt Newsroom).
- Customer-retention ammunition — pet supplies, like health and beauty, are high-loyalty, high-recurrence categories that build basket value in the on-demand model (analysis of Wolt data).
As for an overall figure for the Polish petcare market specifically in the on-demand channel — no public data is available; only platform-published growth dynamics exist, such as the +333% cited by Glovo above. The pet supplies segment is included in market valuations of online groceries / quick commerce (e.g. Ken Research), though without a separate category value.
4. What it means for strategy: distribution, basket, new customer
Three numbers from Wolt explain why this is a channel, not a passing fad. First, acquisition: 28% of customers are first-time purchases with a retailer via the platform — on-demand needs to be planned in the acquisition budget, not just fulfilment costs. Second, basket: 48% of baskets with 10+ items means the platform handles full shops, not single "right now" products. Third, return: 6/10 customers return within a month, so loyalty built in the delivery channel has a real metric. All three figures are confirmed by the Wolt Retail Report 2026.
For retail chains — especially specialist ones like petcare — this means a broader obligation: presence in the on-demand channel becomes a condition of being in the customer's regular shopping routine. It requires a different operational apparatus (picking, availability, product units suited to delivery), which differs from classic e-commerce with courier shipping.
"A category that is available in 30 minutes gains an edge over an assortment that requires a planned store visit. In petcare — a category of rhythmic, recurring purchases — that edge is particularly visible."
5. Retail media: on-demand as a media vehicle and data at the decision moment
The third dimension — and the least obvious — is retail media on on-demand platforms. If 28% of customers make their first purchase via the platform and 48% of baskets are full shops, the on-demand channel becomes the point of contact with the customer at the purchase-decision moment — the most valuable point to monetise. Market players already signal this: Glovo states that around 500 companies use the platform for advertising, reaching customers at the purchase-decision moment (PAP MediaRoom).
The broader Polish retail media context confirms the market is no longer a niche. According to MyShopTV estimates cited in Wiadomości Handlowe, the Polish retail media market reached a value of about PLN 2 billion in 2025, making it the third largest advertising medium after internet and TV, with double-digit growth (estimates of 18–30%). In turn, Żabka, building its Żabka Ads offer and offsite partnerships, positions itself as the first fully omnichannel retail media network in Poland (Omnichannel News).
For brands and chains this means that on-demand platforms are a new digital shelf: a place where the decision is made with a full basket, and first-purchase data enables targeting and monetisation close to the sale. Retail media on the "last mile" and on the app screen is a direction already counting in Western Europe and only now crystallising in Poland — together with the regulation of the role of data and revenue models between the retailer and the platform.
6. Recommendations for retail and brand leadership
- Treat on-demand as an acquisition channel, not just fulfilment. Since 28% of customers make their first purchase with a retailer via the platform, plan it in your customer-acquisition budget — and measure cost per acquisition by channel.
- Round out non-food assortment, especially petcare. It is the fastest-growing category in on-demand (share more than tripled since 2022 per Wolt; +333% YoY per Glovo in Poland). Its presence decides basket value and loyalty in the channel.
- Design a "full weekly shop" basket, not an "emergency" one. 48% of grocery baskets contain 10+ items — pack sizes, grammage and assortment composition must support larger, predictable deliveries.
- Treat customer return (6/10) as an operational objective. Loyalty built in the delivery channel requires dedicated programmes and communication, not just presence.
- Build a position on on-demand retail media. Determine up front how to share data and the experience with the platform; plan presence at the decision moment (sponsored placements, promotions, content) without giving up control of the customer relationship.
- Prepare the organisation operationally. Picking and availability in on-demand differ from courier e-commerce; the logistics apparatus is as important as app presence.
7. Conclusion
The Wolt Retail Report shows that on-demand delivery is no longer a purely foodservice channel — it has become a full-fledged retail channel, with its own basket dynamics, a growing role for non-food categories (including petcare) and a customer-acquisition structure. Polish data (e-grocery +42.9% in December 2025 per KIG; petcare +333% YoY per Glovo; quick commerce ~USD 640 million per Ken Research) suggests the market is accelerating just behind European trends. For chains and brands, winning is not about "adding another app" but about treating on-demand as a strategic channel — with assortment, basket, data and retail-media logic — which requires decisions at the board level, not just in the sales department.