While the COVID-19 epidemic has brought new formations to our lives, radical and major transformations made a big splash across the sectors in the e-commerce world. So much so that the e-commerce sector grew by 66 percent in 2020 and closed the year with a volume of 226.2 billion TL. The work of the Electronic Commerce Operators Association (ETID), which informs its members about the developments in the sector with its international studies and researches, also gained importance in this period.
We talked about the technological infrastructure requirements of e-commerce with ETID, which carries out activities to contribute to the development of legislation so that the electronic commerce sector has a solid legal infrastructure. Stating that the manufacturing and retail industry has begun to adapt to the accessibility, low cost and opportunities of e-commerce, ETID President Emre Ekmekçi said, "We foresee that the number of organizations engaged in e-commerce will increase in the upcoming period as the taboos disappeare from the minds during the pandemic and the increase process will exceed 400 billion in 2021 with investments in consumer demands.”
"We predict the e-commerce volume to exceed 400 billion TL in 2021”
During the pandemic period, consumers got used to affordable price options and easy shopping, especially in e-commerce. Likewise, manufacturers and the retail industry have begun to adapt to the accessibility, low cost and opportunities of e-commerce. We cannot think of a company that does not have an online strategy as a retailer today, where even order mechanisms are digitalized. Since the taboos in the minds have disappeared during the pandemic, we anticipate that the number of organizations engaged in e-commerce will increase in the coming period and the increase process will exceed 400 billion TL in 2021 with investments for consumer demands. While the e-commerce sector in Turkey grew by 35 percent on an annual basis, it broke a record in 2020 with the effect of the pandemic, grew by 66 percent and closed the year with a volume of 226.2 billion TL. The leading online shopping category of the year was the supermarket. According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, the payments made in e-commerce were; 138.4 billion lira via card payments, 80.4 billion lira via money transfer / EFT payments, 7.4 billion lira via payments at the door in 2020. White goods seen an increase of 129 percent, clothing, shoes and accessories seen an increase of 38 percent, electronics seenan increase of 56 percent, food seen an increase of 61 percent, the home, garden, furniture and decoration sector seen an increase of 105 percent, food-supermarket seen an increase of more than 200 percent, education and consultancy seen an increase of 43 percent, floristry seen a 100 percent increase and metallurgy and chemical sector seen 189 percent increase. When we look at the home textile category, there was an increase of approximately 130 percent.
"As the volume of the e-commerce sector increases, the security problem increases”
As the volume of the sector increases, security problems arise, problems increase and e-merchants can sign incorrect transactions. In such cases, the problem is quickly corrected and the aggrievement of the consumer is eliminated. When a malicious transaction is detected, people who have a shop in the virtual marketplace are quickly blacklisted, and the necessary penalties and sanctions are imposed. At this point, direct contact of the consumer with the platform accelerates the process and early complaints are also positive for the platform. Traders who will sell on the platforms undergo a review before opening their virtual store and all trade registers are checked. Although the platforms are not legally guarantors in the transactions between the seller and the buyer, the possibility of the seller to act in bad faith is constantly monitored. As a result of these audits, platforms can impose deterrent penalties on e-merchants.
"Home textile industry stands out with its online sales during the pandemic period”
During the pandemic period, brands serving in the field of home textiles stood out with their online sales through their own websites and marketplaces. Home textile, which was among the sectors with the most sales in the last year and the first quarter of this year, continued its success during the pandemic period. Sector; The campaigns held on special occasions such as Mother's Day and New Year's Eve shopping found a very solid response in the field of e-commerce in terms of product variety, quality and visuals. Since Turkey is a producer country in the field of e-export, especially in textile, it receives intense demand from many regions of the world. For this reason, we believe that home textiles should be among the sectors that will stand out in the field of e-commerce. We think that the sector will continue to rise with the regulations and investments to be made in the field of e-export.
"We foresee that a competitive environment will develop with the new regulation”
The 50 percent tax exemption for micro-exporter who sells abroad on the internet, which entered into force as of January 1, was a harbinger of future support packages to be provided by our state. On the other hand, tens of thousands of e-commerce delivery points are aimed to be implemented in 2021. In this context, shopping malls, shopkeepers and gas stations can be the delivery point. With the new regulations, we expect the employment in the field of logistics to double. In the Economic Reforms Action Plan announced by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, it was stated that regulations will be made regarding online marketplace platforms to protect the rights of member companies that take part in marketplace platforms and sell their products. Sales from virtual marketplaces in Turkey grew by more than 100 percent last year. At this point, we support a healthy growth with smooth competition and the studies in the New Economic Reforms Action Plan of the Ministry of Commerce, and we anticipate that a competitive environment will develop in the future with the new regulations.
"ETID works to increase the content and technical quality of e-commerce”
As ETID, we are working on the development of the electronic commerce sector in our country. We are implementing informative activities in security and in the field of e-commerce for companies that will start commercial activities. We are trying to cooperate in order to ensure solidarity between legal entities operating in the sector and to increase the content and technical quality of e-commerce. In addition, we carry out activities in order to contribute to the development of the legislation on this subject in order for the e-commerce sector to have a solid legal infrastructure.