The Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, which usually increases domestic tourism activity, has also helped boost sales on e-commerce platforms in Turkiye.
Online shopping rose around 30 percent, with sales of certain items, such as deep freezers and tires, increasing significantly, said Hakan Çevikoğlu, head of the E-commerce Enterprises Association (ETİD).
“Those who had expected a slowdown in online shopping are probably wrong. People are now used to those platforms, browsing around to find the best deal. Special occasions, such as Eid al-Adha manifests to this situation,” said Çevikoğlu, who is also the general manager of the e-commerce site PTTAVM.com, owned by the country’s postal service PTT.
He noted that demand is strong on e-commerce platforms for items such as meat grinders, knives and auto tires.
“People now grind meat at their homes. Five years ago, there was almost no demand for those appliances. Demand for some items, including deep freezers, sunscreens, tents, coffeemakers, food processors, chocolates, candies and confectionaries, was 30 percent higher compared to other prod ucts,” he added.
As people hit the roads for the long Eid al-Adha holiday, the sales of tires also increased, Çevikoğlu said.
Demand from other Muslim nations for Turkish products also rose, he noted.
“We are delivering the products of Turkish companies and small and medium-sized firms on the Turkishsouq, which PttAVM launched together with Qatar Post all over the world. We are receiving demands for Turkish coffee, teamakers, Turkish delight and samovar from the Middle Eastern, Northern African and Southeast Asian countries,” Çevikoğlu said.
Consumers buy cosmetics, books
Turkish consumers bought mostly food items, baby care, books and cosmetics products in the run up to the Eid holiday, according to the e-commerce platform Hepsiburada.
Consumers in the provinces of Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Muğla were the most active online shoppers between July 1 and 8, data from Hepsiburada showed.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) e-commerce volume in Turkiye increased by 68 percent in the first four months of 2022 from a year ago, NielsenIQ reported recently.
Baby care categories grew faster, followed closely by confectionery and hot beverages, showed NielsenIQ’s latest study. Online spending in Turkiye covers 5.7 percent of total FMCG sales.
“FMCG’s online sales share is even increasing in mature countries, such as China and South Korea, whereas the most significant rises are observed in the U.S., Mexico,Brazil, Turkiye and Russia. In terms of online share, Turkiye ranks third in Europe, after the U.K. and France,” the report said.