Target of the E-commerce Sector is 400 Billion TL

The target of the e-commerce industry is announced as 400 billion TL. With the coronavirus epidemic, important developments occurred in the e-commerce sector in 2021. People who started to spend more time at home moved their old shopping habits to digital. In this process, e-commerce gained great power. This increase in supply and demand led many brands that had physical sales to online sales. For this reason, many brands that were not digitalized before had to keep up with the e-commerce sector and entered the e-commerce market by developing new different business models. Electronic Commerce Operators Association (ETID) shared e-commerce data for 2020. According to ETID data, with the impact of the coronavirus epidemic, online shopping spending in 2020 grew by 85 percent compared to the previous year. The 2021 target of the e-commerce sector, which recorded a record growth, was announced as 400 billion TL.   Leading Market Sector in Online Shopping Commenting on the data for 2020, where e-commerce has made a great gain in the epidemic process, ETID Chairman Emre Ekmekçi said: “With the impact of the pandemic, the sector broke a record and grew by 85 percent in 2020. We expect the e-commerce industry to close the year with a volume of 250 billion TL. Within the scope of pandemic measures, the shopping behavior of citizens has changed and their transition to online shopping and online transactions has accelerated. The leading online shopping category of the year was groceries. According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, online market shopping increased five times during the pandemic period. Fresh and cold chain food shopping became the rising stars of e-commerce. When we look at the age scale, there was a perception that people under 45 years old preferred online shopping today. This scale changed between the ages of 18-70. Average basket amount was 178.8 TL for card transactions, 63.2 TL for money order, EFT and other payments and 70.6 TL for payments at the door, which was realized in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Antalya and Konya”   Number of SMEs Engaged in E-Commerce Is On The Rise Drawing attention to the development of new business models due to the increase in supply and demand, ETID Chairman Ekmekçi said, “Every small or large-scale organization that overcomes the physical constraints imposed by pandemic measures and invests in e-commerce and realizes its sales and services through e-commerce won. 63 percent of SMEs selling both in the physical channel and in the digital channel experienced a decrease in turnover due to the problems experienced in their physical channels, so if they did not have sales in the digital channel, the turnover decline for about half of these SMEs would be 50 percent more. This year, the number of SMEs engaged in e-commerce increased from 69 thousand to 100 thousand. A total of 68 thousand 457 business e-commerce activities are conducted in Turkey. Cargo companies, which have started to have difficulty in carrying the intensity of the sector, started to serve with new business models and growing infrastructures. This year, we have not experienced the logistics and cargo problems experienced last year. The sector has progressed, and it is more prepared during the discount campaign periods this year. In the days of curfews, the cargoes worked, and their orders were delivered to the consumers in a planned way.” 50% Tax Exemption for Micro Exporters in 2021 Stating that they expect the growth and investments in the sector will continue after the coronavirus epidemic, Ekmekçi continued his words as follows: “During the pandemic period, consumers have become accustomed to affordable price options and easy shopping, especially in e-commerce. Similarly, manufacturers and the retail sector have started to adapt to the accessibility, low cost and opportunities of e-commerce. With the increase in e-commerce, there may be concerns that traditional shopping methods will harm. We have representatives from the industry who successfully manage systems where traditional and e-commerce will work together. As the frequency of online shopping increases, consumers have been facilitated with new payment methods. A world has emerged where even order mechanisms are digitalized. We anticipate that the number of organizations engaged in e-commerce will increase in the coming period, as taboos in minds are eliminated.We expect this increase process to exceed 400 billion in 2021 with investments to be made for consumer demands. We think that e-export will gain a great momentum with tax discounts, government supports and investments of global platforms. The 50 percent tax exemption for micro-exporters who makes sales abroad on the internet, which entered into force as of January 1, was a pioneer of future support packages to be provided by our state. On the other hand, 2021 will be the year of innovative business models for delivery. Tens of thousands of e-commerce delivery points are aimed to be implemented. In this context, shopping malls, tradesmen and gas stations can be the delivery point. With these new regulations, we expect the employment in the field of logistics to double.”