Another 100 billion market is seen as a "new outlet" by cross-border sellers!

As one of the "Five Permanent Members of YouTube", Turkey's global visibility is increasing year by year. In recent years, its e-commerce market has shown explosive growth, and its potential has been noticed by more and more cross-border sellers.

In the past 2024, the performance of Turkey's e-commerce market cannot be ignored among many countries and regions in the world. Some people even call it "the e-commerce treasure of Central and Eastern Europe"!

The scale of e-commerce has reached more than 700 billion, and sellers: a new outlet!

Data shows that Türkiye is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world. It is also an important economy in Central and Eastern Europe and one of the largest e-commerce markets.

According to previous data, in 2022, the size of Turkey's e-commerce market will only be 801 billion liras (about 165 billion yuan), equivalent to 6% of the country's GDP. In addition, its e-commerce share accounts for about 16.5% of the country's total retail industry.

By 2023, Turkey's e-commerce transaction volume had doubled to 1.85 trillion liras (about 383.6 billion yuan), and the overall online transaction volume increased by more than 22%. At that time, institutions predicted that its e-commerce scale would continue to grow by double digits in the future.

Recently, Hakan Çevikoğlu, chairman of the Turkish E-Commerce Operators Association , said that in 2024, the Turkish e-commerce market achieved a revenue of 3.4 trillion liras (about 705.5 billion yuan), and it is expected to further grow to more than 5 trillion liras in 2025.

It is worth mentioning that in the "Strategic Plan 2024-2028" released in early 2024, the Turkish Ministry of Trade proposed to achieve a trading volume of 2.2 trillion liras in 2024, 3.1 trillion liras in 2025, and 6.3 trillion liras in 2028.

It is obvious from the above-mentioned data that Turkey’s previously planned e-commerce revenue target for 2025 was completed and exceeded ahead of schedule in 2024.

Therefore, it is not difficult to find that the development speed of Türkiye's e-commerce market size has far exceeded expectations. In the future, driven by the global e-commerce wave, it may achieve a higher annual compound growth rate.

Moreover, the market is not crowded with sellers at present, and with great potential and an unsaturated market, it is undoubtedly a new blue ocean worth exploring for domestic companies and even global cross-border sellers and companies.

The “core elements” of the rise of a 100 billion market

Faced with this new blue ocean, some people have raised questions: "What is the reason for the rapid rise of the Turkish e-commerce market?"

In fact, the prosperous development of this e-commerce market is inseparable from the following core factors.

On the one hand, Turkey has a superior geographical location, spanning the Eurasian continent, and is often seen as a natural bridge connecting East-West trade. With this advantage, Turkish Airlines connects nearly 300 destinations, greatly promoting the development of cross-border e-commerce.

On the other hand, Turkey is one of the countries with the largest proportion of young people in Europe. Data shows that the country's total population is far more than 80 million, and the youth population aged 15-24 has reached more than 10 million, accounting for more than 15% of the total population. It also has the highest proportion of young people among many EU member states.

Moreover, in this "hot land", young consumers, especially those aged 25-36, spend the most. Their favorite product categories include white appliances, small appliances, electronic products and clothing accessories. The former two account for 6.8% of the e-commerce transaction volume in 2024; the latter two account for 3.9% and 3.7% respectively. Sellers can use this as a reference when entering this market.

It can be said that the large and young consumer group makes the market full of vitality and has played a good role in promoting the development of cross-border e-commerce.

In addition, Turkey's infrastructure, such as the Internet and payment environment, is more complete than in many countries and regions. In this region, the wide coverage of high-speed broadband and 5G networks has improved Internet access speed and stability, helping consumers to browse various cross-border e-commerce platforms smoothly and complete online shopping more easily. At the same time, mobile payment has also provided great convenience and security for e-commerce transactions, further promoting the vigorous development of cross-border e-commerce.

Another point that must be mentioned is that the Turkish e-commerce market has grown rapidly, attracting a large number of local and international e-commerce platforms. The fierce competition among these platforms has prompted them to continuously innovate and optimize their functions, which not only brings consumers a perfect shopping experience, but also increases the platform's popularity and order volume, thereby accelerating the expansion of the local e-commerce scale.

Against this backdrop, a number of e-commerce platforms are constantly vying for market share in this trillion-dollar market and are thriving.

Major platforms compete for blue ocean market share

Speaking of the more famous e-commerce platforms in the Turkish market, local e-commerce platforms such as Hepsiburada and Trendyol, as well as international e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, must have a place.

Founded in 1998, Hepsiburada is the largest e-commerce platform in Turkey, with products covering more than 30 categories including consumer electronics, sports and outdoor, home kitchen, jewelry, mother and baby toys, etc. With its one-stop shopping experience, it has a market share of more than 20% in the country. It is worth mentioning that in 2021, Hepsiburada was successfully listed on the Nasdaq in the United States. In the same year, it also launched a policy of attracting investment in China, officially opening its doors to Chinese sellers.

Founded in 2010, Trendyol focuses on fashion brands and is Turkey's most famous online fashion retailer. It is also one of the largest and fastest-growing e-commerce platforms in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa. In the first quarter of 2024, the platform had nearly 50,000 sellers selling a total of 16 million products, covering approximately 4.5 million customers; in November, it attracted more than 250 million overseas visits.

In addition to local platforms, international e-commerce giant Amazon has already begun to seize the market as early as September 2018. It provides a variety of categories in Turkey, including consumer electronics, computer office, mobile phones and accessories, home and kitchen, personal care, sports and outdoor; in 2022, it began to plan the construction of a logistics center in Istanbul, Turkey, to continuously meet the shopping needs of local consumers.

However, it is worth noting that although the Turkish e-commerce market has shown strong growth momentum and huge development potential, attracting many platforms and sellers, some weaknesses in the market cannot be ignored. One seller pointed out that "in the Turkish e-commerce market, logistics is a headache. Slow order delivery and inconvenient returns and exchanges are all pain points that hinder the development of e-commerce. If these problems are solved, it is estimated that the e-commerce market can reach a higher level."

In general, the Turkish e-commerce market will continue to grow and develop in the future, attracting more domestic and foreign e-commerce giants to flock to this fertile land. Cross-border people can choose the e-commerce platform or product that suits them to enter the market based on market trends and past experience.