“Turkey B2C E-Commerce Market 2017”, a new market report from Germany-based secondary market research specialist yStats.com, sheds light on the online retail trends and growth in this emerging market. According to findings contained in the report, Turkey’s E-Commerce has not yet lived up to its full potential and is projected to remain on a rapid growth path. Among the main beneficiaries of this growth are the top three marketplaces that dominate the country’s E-Commerce competition landscape
Online retail sales in Turkey have been growing at a strong double-digit rate over the past several years, spurred by the increased consumer connectivity. Internet penetration in the country has reached over one-half of the population, and continues to rise. Yet, just around one-third of connected consumers in Turkey purchased products and services online in 2016, highlighting the need for increasing trust in E-Commerce. Furthermore, only a small one-digit share of the country’s 2016 retail sales was online, below the global average. This indicates the untapped potential of Turkey’s E-Commerce, which could propel it to the sixth rank among the top emerging markets in terms of online retail by 2025.
Among the important findings contained in this yStats.com’s report are online shopper preferences regarding payment methods, product categories and E-Commerce platforms. Clothing was the top product category purchased by digital buyers in Turkey in 2016, and credit card was by far the most popular online payment method. Regarding the competition landscape, three major online marketplaces dominate: Hepsiburada, Gittigidiyor and N11.
M-Commerce is the main trend in Turkey’s online retail. Smartphone was the leading device that online shoppers used for making purchases, ahead of laptop, desktop computer and tablet, as of early January 2017. According to a forecast cited in this report by yStats.com, by 2021, the mobile share of E-Commerce sales in Turkey could reach nearly 50%. On the other hand, cross-border online shopping, which is rising across Europe and the world, is yet to catch up in Turkey, as only one in ten online shoppers purchased from foreign sellers in 2016.
