Employers support employees’ Christmas shopping. Poles spend more, not only on gifts.
Groceries, cosmetics, jewellery, but also sports and culture – the end of the year is an intense shopping period. According to MyBenefit data, employee benefits, such as cafeteria programmes, play an increasingly important role here. Poles increasingly treat benefits as a real support for their household budget during the most expensive period of the year. What exactly do they spend the solutions and resources offered by the employer on?
In November 2025, the number of transactions on the MyBenefit cafeteria platform, which allows employees to use funds received from their employer to purchase a wide range of products and services, was 6.7% higher than a year earlier. In turn, the total amount of expenses covered by employees from funds received from their employers increased by as much as 12.6%. The average shopping basket also increased by 5.4%. In the most financially burdensome period of the year, we are using benefits as an effective mechanism to relieve the burden on household budgets and supplement our salaries more often. This is an increasingly important element, because, as the Christmas Wallet of Poles 2025 survey shows, the average Pole will have to spend 13% more on this year’s holidays than last year.
Shops, restaurants and beauty are riding the Christmas wave
MyBenefit data also shows that every year, around St. Nicholas Day and just before Christmas, shopping via this platform in retail stores – both stationary and online – clearly intensifies. Among them, shops that offer groceries, cosmetics and beauty products, jewellery, children’s and youth products, as well as books, games and multimedia and, invariably for years, sports clothes and accessories, are particularly prominent. Gastronomy is also gaining popularity – benefits are used for holiday gatherings, dinners and outings with family or the team.
Retail trends: what exactly do we buy for St. Nicholas Day and Christmas Eve?
Detailed analysis of transactions indicates that different shopping categories are gaining strength in different phases of the pre-holiday season. Shopping in the beauty and jewellery categories intensifies significantly before the holidays. Toy shops increase their share from the first ten days of November, maintaining a high level until Christmas Eve. The period around St. Nicholas Day (beginning of December) is the dominant time for bookshops and shops offering media (books, music, films), which gain the highest share from the end of November. In the fashion and sports segment, a difference is observed: the popularity of shoe shops increases around St. Nicholas Day, while that of clothing and sports equipment shops – in the pre-Christmas period. In the case of electronics, demand is driven by Black Friday, although the leading networks in this segment available in the MyBenefit cafeteria also have a significant share in the pre-holiday period. Finally, preparations for the holidays are clearly visible in the increase in transactions with partners offering food products.
Gifts in the form of experiences
At the end of the year, the number of transactions in the culture, tourism, sports and recreation categories is clearly increasing. On the one hand, it is a way to use funds from the Company Social Benefits Fund (ZFŚS), which may soon expire. On the other hand, it’s a sign that employees are increasingly willing to choose gifts in the form of experiences: tickets to events, trips, or physical activity for themselves and their loved ones. Interestingly, these don’t have to be one-off services, because one can also purchase other benefits within the cafeteria, such as the MultiSport card, which allows people to use many different sports activities in over 6,000 facilities. These trends mean that holiday spending is increasingly taking the form of experiences and time spent together, rather than just more things being put on the shelf.
– The pre-Christmas and holiday season is a time when employee benefits really help Poles manage their household budgets and support both the purchase of gifts and the planning of leisure and cultural activities. We can clearly see that for many people, cafeteria funds become additional “holiday money” that allows them to limit their recourse to their salary or savings. This is an important signal for employers: employees particularly value flexible solutions that can be used in various categories, according to current needs – summarises Kinga Kołodziej, Customer Relations Director at Benefit Systems.
Agnieszka Bemowska-Niewiarowska
Benefit Systems has been a leader in the Polish non-financial benefits market for over 20 years and one of the most important players in the fitness industry in the region. For years, the company has been setting market development directions, creating modern solutions that support employee wellbeing and promote an active lifestyle. Benefit Systems’ flagship product is the MultiSport Programme – the most recognizable and most frequently chosen sports programme in Poland, providing access to thousands of sports and recreational facilities. The company’s strong portfolio is complemented by the MyBenefit cafeteria platform and the comprehensive Multi.Life wellbeing programme, creating a unique ecosystem of benefits for companies that care about their employees. Benefit Systems is also dynamically expanding its presence abroad. The company’s sports offer is available in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey, which strengthens its position as one of the key providers of wellbeing services in Central and Eastern Europe. The group is also a major operator of fitness clubs in six markets, and in Poland it is responsible for well-known networks, including Fabryka Formy, FitFabric, Fitness Academy, My Fitness Place and Zdrofit. Benefit Systems’ mission is to inspire physical activity and care for health at every stage of life. That’s why the company runs numerous educational and health-promoting initiatives for children, adults, and seniors, including through the MultiSport Foundation. Its actions confirm that the role of a leader is not only about scale, but also about real social influence. Since 2018, Benefit Systems has been a member of the prestigious B Corp community, which brings together companies that adhere to the highest standards of responsibility and social involvement in their business. More information at benefitsystems.pl/en and biuroprasowe.benefitsystems.pl/releases/english.
