E-Commerce volume grew by 39 percent to TL 83.1 billion in 2019
According to the annual "e-Commerce Market Size in Turkey" report by Informatics Industry Association (TÜBİSAD), the e-Commerce sector reached an 83.1 billion lira volume in 2019 with a 39 percent growth in Turkish lira. The sector grew by 18 percent in dollars, while the average annual growth rate of the sector between 2015 and 2019 was 35 percent.
The findings of the "Turkey e-Commerce 2019 Market Size" report prepared by the Informatics Industry Association (TÜBİSAD) in collaboration with Deloitte Turkey's project partnership and SimilarWeb and Inveon, which measures developments in the e-commerce market in Turkey according to international standards, were announced at a press conference organized online. According to the report, the e-Commerce sector in Turkey continued to grow in 2019, with an increase of 39 percent to 83.1 billion TL.
Informatics Industry Association (TÜBİSAD) Chairperson Kübra Erman Karaca gave a keynote speech at the meeting and Deloitte Turkey Partner Hakan Göl and TÜBİSAD eTrade Commission Chairman Burak Ertaş presented the report.
TÜBİSAD Chairperson Kübra Erman Karaca gave the opening speech of the press conference, said: "As we all follow closely, theprocess of transformation into thedigital economy has gained tremendous momentum with the COVID-19 outbreak. While the whole world managed this important crisis, it applied to technological tools as the first address for the sustainability of its political, social and economic activities. For sectors and companies that can capture this technology revolution, the performance on display in today's conditions is no surprise. Today, we are here with a study that holds the pulse of our e-commerce sector, which has been at the heart of transformation since the early days of the crisis. The "Turkey e-Commerce Market Size" report, which we prepared for the seventh time until this year, is of no doubt a different importance. Because at this important turning point in history, we think that all societies will grow and develop with the multiplier effect provided by their digital sectors. E-commerce in our country continued to grow in 2019 as in 2018. We can consider achieving a volume size of 83.1 billion TL as a positive development with a growth of 39 percent in 2019, when trade wars all over the world and developments that have caused many uncertainty in the global political conjuncture are experienced. During this extraordinary period, we have seen new categories that grow very rapidly by creating a fast delivery experience to the consumer and the fact that the segment that never used e-commerce becoming users. We hope to release better growth figures for 2020, with the increase in the use of mobile phones and the increase in the shareof both mobile internet and mobile applications in e-commerce."
Deloitte Turkey Partner Hakan Göl said "The e-commerce sector has reached a share of 6.2% in the retail sector with strong growth, but we think this rate is low compared to the potential of our country. The COVID-19 outbreak also showed that e-commerce is no longer an alternative channel. The size of the sector exceeded 80 billion liras and we expect that the growth would continue by getting stronger. We believe that companies focused on digital transformation and e-commerce will stand out not only in our country but also in global markets."
At the report presentation, Burak Ertaş, chairman of the TÜBİSAD e-Commerce Commission, shared the findings in the report:
In the e-commerce market, which reached a size of 83.1 billion TL, Online Retail reached 44.9 billion TL with 43 percent growth and Online Holiday and Travel reached 30.2 billion TL with 32 percent growth.
Only Online Retail was the area with the most growth in the online retail category with 48 percent (30.8 Billion TL). With 50 percent growth here, the impact of the marketplaces has been major. The volume of the marketplaces reached 29.3 billion TL.
The highest growth rate in the Multi-Channel Online Retail category was seen in Clothing and Footwear with 40 percent, thus the market size reached 3.5 billion TL. With 33 percent growth, Home and Decoration (1.7 billion TL) and Entertainment and Culture (0.7 billion TL) followed Clothing and Shoes. Electronics was at 4.0 billion TL with 18 percent growth.
In the Online Holiday and Travel category, Only Online Holidays & Travel with 47 percent (4.3 billion TL) grew faster than Multi-Channel Holiday & Travel (25.9 billion TL) with 30 percent.
According to the ”Turkey e-Commerce Market Size” report, Only Online Retail took the first place in the e-commerce categories with the highest annual growth between 2015 and 2019.Over the five-year period in question, Holiday and Travel grew by 36 percent annually, Online Legal Bet grew by 33 percent annually and Multi-Channel Retail grew by 31 percent.
With 306 sites in the e-commerce market reaching 83.1 billion TL in 2019, Only Online Retail has a 37 percent share in the total sector. With 77 sites, Holiday & Travel had a 36 percent share, Multi-Channel Retail with 371 sites had a 17 percent share, and Online Legal Bet with 6 sites was at 10 percent. There has been an increase in Only Online Retail sites compared to last year, while Holiday & Travel sites have seen a decrease.
With the increase in the use of internet by mobile phones, the share of mobile trade has increased visibly over the years in e-commerce. This year, e-commerce data on mobile internet and mobile apps were added to the report. In e-commerce turnover, the mobile share increased to about 60 percent. With the increasing mobile experience of users and the continued investment of companies in these areas, the turnover share of 60 percent is expected to increase by 5 to 10 percent each year.
According to the report, the share of online retail in total retail in Turkey, measured at 5.3 percent in 2018, rose to 6.2 percent in 2019. For developing countries, including Poland, India, Brazil and Russia, the share of online retail in total retail was 6.7 percent, while developed countries averaged 12.3 percent.
The highlights of the report are as follows:
- E-commerce is a sector with scale competition in Turkey as well as it is in the world, thus much of the growth comes from leading companies. The share of the top 10 companies under the study increased over the years from 40 percent to 55 percent. This trend, which is increasing with the introduction of foreign players and investments of domestic players, is expected to continue in the coming years.
- In the early years of the study, many of the companies with business models such as private shopping and multi-category became marketplaces over the years. Now, from a market structure where business models are differentiated and the competition was in silos, many players are trying to offer more to the same customer with similar business models. Different categories were combined under the name "Marketplaces" to reflect this convergence of business models in the report.
After the presentation of the report, "Development of E-Commerce in Turkey" panel moderated by Inveon Founder and CEO Yomi Kastro, TÜBİSAD e-Commerce Commission Chairman Burak Ertaş, TOBB e-Commerce Sector Assembly Chairperson Öget Kantarcı, ETİD President Emre Ekmekçi, Modanisa General Manager Sami Güzel and BiTaksi and Getir Founder Nazım Salur attended the panel as speakers. During the panel, the issues such as the evaluation of e-commerce growth compared to other markets, the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak into sectoral growth in 2020, adaptation of companies during this period, product categories with increased sales, future plans of applications that were successful during the pandemic period, and the impact of e-export and fast consumer products on the sector in the post-COVID-19 period were discussed.
For the full report: http://www.tubisad.org.tr/en/images/pdf/tubisad_2019_ecommerce.pdf
