Turkey

Turkey aims to raise its ecommerce revenue to over 10 billion euros by the end of this year. The Turkish ecommerce association ETID thinks the ecommerce industry in Turkey could increase significantly this year.

The Turkish government wants to make global ecommerce companies liable for taxes on goods that are sold directly to Turkish customers. The government has proposed a draw law for this, the Turkish Minister of Finance said today.

Hepsiburada, the biggest ecommerce company in Turkey, has introduced a new program, which will help 1,000 women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through ecommerce. The Technology Power for Entrepreneur Women Program offers free online stores, but also gives assistance with sales, operations, marketing and logistics.

Ecommerce in Turkey was worth 30.8 billion Turkish Liras (or 7.95 billion euros) in 2016. The online retail industry in this country is becoming more and more mature. The ecommerce share in Turkey's total retail was 1.7 percent in 2012, but it increased to 3.5 percent last year, a new study shows.

Amazon Germany has discovered its Turkish customers. Buyers from that country can get their goods delivered for free. In addition, the website of Amazon Germany and its catalogue has been translated into Turkish. Customer service via email and phone is also available in Turkish.

PayPal has ceased operations in Turkey after the company was unable to get a new license from Turkish financial regulator BDDK. A new Turkish policy requires IT systems to be housed within the country, but that's something PayPal doesn't follow.

PayU, a payment service provider in Turkey, will close this year with a growth of 40 to 80 percent in each of its markets. This success is due to an emerging middle class, the rise of mobile technology and evolving ecommerce environments in developing markets, the company says.

Groupon is no longer active in Greece and Turkey. The American ecommerce company pulled the plug on its operations in these two Southern European countries last week. It’s still not clear why the Greek site is offline now, but Groupon backed down in Turkey because of financial expectations that couldn’t be met.

In Europe, more and more consumers like to pay using their smartphone or tablet. In share of mobile device owners who already have experience with mobile payments, Turkey is the absolute leader in Europe. This is apparent from the latest report by yStats.com, called "Europe Online Payment Methods: First Half 2015".

Iyzico has raised a Series B funding of 16.5 million Turkish liras, or 5.74 million euros. The Turkish company, which provides a platform to let ecommerce sites and other apps easily accept online payments, has raised more than 8.5 million euros in total since it was founded three years ago.

Annelutfen, a popular Turkish ecommerce site that is focused on the baby and mother market, announced the successful completion of a 4 million dollar investment (€3.35 million) led by Elixir Capital, a Silicon Valley-based private equity fund.

Global investors are looking with increasing interest to the ecommerce industry in Eastern Europe. The growth and trends in this region attracts the attention of international ecommerce players and investors. For example in Turkey, there's a raised interest of investors, mostly in the clothing sectors.

It may not have been all moonlight and roses for Southern Europe with the financial crises countries like Spain, Italy and Greece had to face, but in terms of ecommerce this European region is doing well. It’s expected that the total online economy of sold goods and service in Southern Europe in 2013 amounted to 39,5 billion euros.