DHL to focus more on ecommerce in Turkey

DHL has plans to concentrate more on ecommerce in Turkey. The German logistics player considers Turkey as an important regional hub which could fuel growth in the Middle Eastern and European markets. DHL is setting up an operations center at Istanbul Airport as first step of this plan.

That’s what Leendert van Delft, VP Global Sales Programs at DHL Express, told during the DHL International Cross Border eCommerce Summit, which took place last week in Istanbul. He said Turkey is at the meeting point of Europe, Africa and Asia and that DHL could move to many points in the Middle East and Africa more quickly through Turkey.

‘Turkey is very important country for DHL’

“This makes Turkey a very important country for us, and we are working to make it a regional hub,” he said. The operation center at the airport in Istanbul will be the first step in that direction the vice president announced. “Today, when you look at the world, everyone speaks of the US and China as ecommerce markets. But in the case of Turkey, you’re not at the initial phase of this journey, but you have actually moved from the infancy to the stage of walking. It is time for Turkey to run now,” he added.

DHL’s share will rise to 40-50 percent by 2020

During the event, Boğaç Özhan, vice president of Sales at DHL Express Turkey, said that DHL’s share in global ecommerce deliveries is around 29 percent, but it’s projected to reach somewhere between 40 and 50 percent by 2020. “The share of ecommerce deliveries, which stood at 5 percent in 2016, rose to 10 percent in January of this year and 15 percent in last November. Our expectation from 2020 is to achieve 25-30 percent”, he said.