Ecommerce in Turkey to reach 7.59 billion euros in 2018

Ecommerce in Turkey is growing fast. Expectations are the online retail industry of Turkey will reach 50 billion Turkish liras, currently about 7.59 billion euros, by the end of this year. Last year, the industry was worth 42.2 billion liras, or 6.4 billion euros. This means, ecommerce in Turkey is about to grow 18.5 percent this year.

This growth of ecommerce in Turkey was brought to our attention by Daily Sabah, which also cites a report by Deloitte that shows the ecommerce industry in Turkey was at 4.68 billion euros in 2016. So, taking all these numbers into account, it shows that the Turkish ecommerce is developing at a significant speed.

High smartphone penetration in Turkey

Daily Sabah writes that 6 million (11.11 percent) out of 54 million internet users in Turkey shopped online last year. That’s not very much, but according to Emre Ekmekçi, chairman of the E-commerce Businesses Association, internet penetration in Turkey is increasing rapidly, with smartphone penetration scoring above the global average.

“Consumers in Turkey are capable of adapting very quickly to the digital developments”, Ekmekçi said, adding that the multi-channel business model has greatly contributed to the growth of the nation’s ecommerce.

‘Large ecommerce companies enter our country’

About the expected high growth in the Turkish ecommerce sector, Ekmekçi says: “Turkey has a conscious consumer profile that can adapt rapidly to digital environment. This has been confirmed by large global retail and ecommerce companies entering our country with awareness of this potential. In addition, investments by foreign players in Turkey indicate that our national economy and ecommerce sector have a huge growth potential.”

Amazon in Turkey

For example, Amazon Turkey has launched last month. Ekmekçi: “I hope this will contribute to the growth of our market which constantly and rapidly develops.”