Turkey

Trendyol, the biggest ecommerce platform of Turkey, has raised 1.5 billion dollar (1.28 billion euros). With this fresh funding, the ecommerce company is now being valued at over 14 billion euros, making it Turkey's first 'decacorn'.

Turkish grocery delivery startup Getir has acquired Blok, a similar rapid delivery service from Spain. The acquisition gives Getir immediate access to Spain and Italy, where Blok was available most in Madrid, Barcelona and Milan. Prior to the acquisition, Blok was preparing to launch in Portugal, so this country is on Getir's roadmap too now.

Alibaba is raising its stake in Trendyol to 86.5 percent. The major ecommerce platform from Turkey received an additional 330 million dollars (273 million euros) investment from Alibaba, which was already one of its existing partners.

About 98,000 businesses and 1.1 million individuals sold a total of 347 million products on Trendyol last year. The popular Turkish ecommerce platform also contributed to the creation and retention of 1.1 million jobs in Turkey.

Trendyol, one of the largest ecommerce companies in Turkey, has plans to expand in Europe, including the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain. The expansion plans will happen with a new website.

Amazon Prime has launched in Turkey. The introduction of the aid subscription program follows almost exactly two years after Amazon Turkey was launched.

Saloodo, a digital freight platform from Germany, is expanding. The startup, which connects shippers and carriers with a solution for ordering and handling shipments, will now launch its platform in Turkey.

Turkey wants to increase its export market share in the Middle East and North Africa. It's planning new initiatives in the ecommerce sector. Therefore, it will form a virtual committee to promote and help ecommerce companies online.

Ecommerce in Turkey was worth 83.1 billion lira (10.76 billion euros) in 2019. This is an increase of 39 percent compared to the situation one year before, when the Turkish ecommerce industry was valued at 59.9 billion liras (7.76 billion euros).

Prisync, an ecommerce pricing platform from Turkey, has raised 1.1 million dollars (985.700 euros) in a seed round that was led by Istanbul-based venture capital investment company Collective Spark. With the money, Prisync wants to further develop its product and grow the customer base.

Ecommerce in Turkey was worth about 5.74 billion euros in 2018, after it grew 38 percent compared to the year before. The Turkish online retail industry now accounts for 5 percent of the country's total retail sales.

AliExpress has opened its marketplace to welcome non-Chinese sellers. The Alibaba-owned business-to-consumer marketplace has changed its business model to better compete with Amazon. Online retailers from Spain, Italy, Turkey and Russia now have access to the Chinese platform.

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.

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.

Amazon has launched Amazon Turkey today. The dedicated local marketplace offers products from 15 different categories to Turkish customers. Consumers in Turkey could already order at Amazon, but that happened via a translated version of the German Amazon. Now, they have their own dedicated Amazon website with Amazon Turkey.