Business

Turkey: online shopping has increased many times during the Eid holidays

Consumers dominantly chose online shopping before Eid Al Adha because of the pandemic; there have been differences in increasing shopping demands of the customers compared to years before. Mutlu Erturan, the trading group head of Hepsiburada stated that physical shopping has been turned to digital platforms due to safety issues. People who have never been used e-commerce and different age groups had the opportunity to experience the practicality and safety of the digital platforms. He said:

‘’ There has been an increase in e-commerce; people increasingly shopped online before the Eid Al Adha due to the safety issues. The number of people shopped from Hepsiburada during the eid is nearly 50 percent more compared to last feast. The demand for refrigerator and freezer have increased because they keep the food fresh for long and contribute to household income during the lockdowns. The tools that are needed the most during and after a sacrifice such as knives, scales, grinder, freezer, pan and freezer bags are also demanded greatly.”

”People grind their own beef at home.”

Erturan emphasized that the measures against the pandemic differ everyday in accordance with the related situation and said:

‘’ Grinder machines have the highest demand of all time this year. People safely grind their beef at their home, it is also timesaving.

Demand for cologne has been 2.5 times more than regular during pandemic; cologne is an indispensable item of the feasts yet it is used constantly now.

We are observing some differences in consumers’ e-commerce demands in pandemic period. For example, disinfectants, gloves, powerful bleachers against the virus have come forth. ‘’

”We reached 2 figure numbers fast.”

Erturan mentioned that Hepsiburada has increasingly grown better than sector average in the first half of 2020 and said:

‘’ E-commerce share in retail was 5 percent last year, yet we see that it has reached 2 figure numbers with the pandemic; this increase was expected to come within 3-5 years. E-commerce sector will also grow more in the upcoming periods with the digitalization.’’

 Erturan stated that the age group of consumers shopping online right before the Eid Al Adha is parallel with the rest of the year. He said:

‘’Shopping ratio is increased not only in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir but also in Denizli and Kahramanmaras compared to last year’s eid qurban. ‘’

”Older people have met with the online shopping.”

‘’During the 65+ age lockdown, these people used our Hepsiexpress service in order to reach vegetables, fruits, meat and more. Youth mostly shopped education, hobby, clothing, and electronic products online during the pandemic.

There has been 200 percent increase in digital interaction of mobile retail during the pandemic; hence the fast grow of e-commerce in retail is happened. ‘’

”We expect that the sector will continue to grow at that speed.”

Feyza Dereli Fedar, the marketing director of GittiGidiyor said that the demand for some product groups is increased before eid qurban; as the demand is parallel to constantly changing needs. She said:

‘’ The sale of the needed products at the feast such as chocolate, coffee machines, dried fruits, cologne, freezer, freezer bag, grinder machine have been increased before eid qurban. Selling rates was increased up to 10 times more.’’

She also said that age of the consumers shopping online the most at that period is ranged between 35 and 45. She emphasized the fact that sector is constantly growing due to accelerating internet speed and new technologies, she said:

‘’According to the 2019 e-commerce data of Trade Electronic Data System (ETBIS), Turkey’s e-commerce volume was 136 billion liras. According to the same data, e-commerce volume of the first 5 months of 2020 increased by 48 percent compared to last year’s same period and became 63.3 billion liras. We expect that the sector will continue to grow at that speed at the end of 2020.’’

”Pandemic has also changed the consumer habits.”

Fedar mentioned that pandemic also has changed the consumer habits and people have started to meet their daily needs via e-commerce more commonly. She stated that the demand towards staple food and hygiene products have been increased and said:

‘’The sale of the hobby products such as board games, puzzle, colouring book has been increased during the quarantines; computer and office furniture sales are increased because of working from home and distant education. There has been also an increase in the sales of home decoration, gardening, and sports equipment.

E-commerce reached out to new age groups for the first time and presented them with it’s convenience. Consumers meeting with e-commerce said that they will continue online shopping; we predict that at least 50 percent of them will be permanent users. We need to put a great importance on customer satisfaction in order for this prediction to be realized.

GittiGidiyor has always been a ‘human-based’ company and this has not changed during the pandemic. It is important for us that people will choose e-commerce more than ever at this period. We try to ease our users’ lives by developing e-commerce projects that will make their shopping experience better.’’

source: AA / translated by Bazaar Team

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button