ETİD/Ekmekçi: We must increase the share of e-commerce in exports to 4%

HANDE BERKTAN

After the Industrial Revolution, with the development of the internet, commerce in the electronic environment, one of the rapidly growing sectors, reached a market volume of 5.9 trillion dollars worldwide. In our country, 550 thousand enterprises operate in the sector, which closed the year with 800 billion TL last year.

Emre Ekmekçi, President of the Association of Electronic Commerce Operators (ETID), said that the share of e-commerce, which has a 20 percent share in retail and 5 percent in total gross product, should be increased from 1 percent to 4 percent in general exports. Saying that the world average is 4 percent, Ekmekçi said, “Now, how we can sell products to foreign customers and market diversification should be the most important topics we should talk about in the sector.” made its assessment.

“With the effect of inflation, we will close this year with 125% growth”

On the development of e-commerce, Ekmekçi said, “We finished the year 2022 with growth, in the first 5 months of this year, there was a volume increase of 120 percent compared to the month of last year. There is also a serious inflation effect reflected in prices here. February was a stagnant month, especially with the decrease in advertisements during the earthquake period. Then there was an increase in the following months. Last year, we closed over 800 billion TL, this year we can close the year with 1 trillion 800 billion TL with the effect of inflation. Basically, it is necessary to look at the growth on the basis of units. We expect to close with a growth of around 40 percent on a quantity basis.” said.

“The number of businesses engaged in e-commerce increased 7 times during the pandemic”

Pointing out that there has been a 7-fold increase in the number of businesses operating in e-commerce during the pandemic period, but there has been a slowdown in SMEs entering e-commerce as of this year, Ekmekçi continued his words as follows:

“The volume growth is 120 percent, but the growth in the number of transactions is around 25 percent. While there were 70 thousand businesses before the pandemic, the number of businesses increased by 7 times during the pandemic period to 500 thousand. Last year, the number of enterprises operating in the sector reached 550 thousand. Our goal is to increase the number of businesses from 550 thousand to 700 thousand this year. SMEs can enter e-commerce both by opening their own websites and by taking part in market places. Therefore, we think we can reach the target this year.”

“E-commerce supports pave the way for new business models”

In his speech, Ekmekçi expressed that they expect the support decisions announced for the sector to pave the way for new business models, and said, “We also foresee that these supports will reveal intermediary, aggregator and e-exporter models. From now on, our duty is to use the supports correctly and increase exports. Within the scope of the supports, market entry report support, digital marketplace promotion support, e-export promotion support, order fulfillment service, warehouse rental support, overseas marketplace integration support, online store and service support from target country e-commerce stakeholders and marketplace commission expense support is valuable for the industry.” used the phrases.