eCommerce wave is getting stronger, however…

Informatics Industry Association (TÜBİSAD) shared the results of the research titled “TÜBİSAD Transformative Power of Economy: E-Commerce Impact Analysis 2020 Report, Overview of Turkish E-Commerce Ecosystem” prepared in cooperation with Deloitte Digital. The study, which aims to measure the economic and social effects of e-commerce with the e-commerce ecosystem, is based on interviews with industry components and the results of fieldwork conducted with more than 220 businesses and 1,500 consumers. In the report, which examines global e-commerce trends, it is emphasized that four out of every five people using the internet in the world in 2020 have experienced e-commerce with the effect of the pandemic. Turkey, on the other hand, seems to be among the mature markets in 2020, with the ratio of e-commerce to GDP reaching 4.5% in this rapidly growing global market with the effect of the pandemic. While the Turkish economy grew by 1.8% in real terms in 2020, e-commerce expenditures grew by 45% with the effect of the pandemic. While the share of e-commerce expenditures in domestic household final consumption expenditures is 8%, it is seen that 63% of e-commerce shopping is made through mobile applications. TÜBİSAD Chairperson Levent Kızıltan said that: “Our study shows that our country is among the mature markets in e-commerce. However, the interregional digital divide threatens to spread the benefits of e-commerce across all. If we can increase our digital maturity level in all our regions, we can move our country to even higher levels in the field of e-commerce.”

Consumers meet in the marketplace

With the pandemic, the frequency of e-commerce shopping of consumers engaged in e-commerce is increasing. 51% of consumers state that the most effective factor in choosing e-commerce channels is the “affordable price”. While the most common category of consumers in e-commerce is clothing products with a rate of 85%, nearly half of the consumers state that they increased their use of digital content during the pandemic period. The most preferred e-commerce channel by consumers is e-commerce marketplaces with a rate of 91%.

The report highlights that the number of businesses participating in e-commerce has increased by a total of 42% since 2015. While the rate of businesses stating that the share of internet sales in their total sales increased last year was 65%, 22% of businesses underlined that they created additional employment for the internet sales channel. The rate of companies who think that internet sales will increase after the pandemic is 39%.

E-commerce expenditure from local businesses reached 216 billion TL. Total gross value added contribution of e-commerce is 253 billion TL. E-commerce contributes to total employment with 1.9 million employees. The total tax contribution of e-commerce in Turkey is 56 billion TL. The ratio of e-commerce regional gross value added (GVA) to Turkey’s regional gross value added is 5.6%. The ratio of e-commerce supported employment to Turkey’s employment is 7.2%.

Benefits should be for all

The report also highlights the contribution of e-commerce to digital transformation processes among its components such as logistics and payment systems. 81% of businesses state that their digital competencies have increased with internet sales. While new value propositions focused on agility and technology such as micro distribution are developing in the traditional logistics sector, the share of e-commerce in all shipments in the logistics sector in 2020 is 60%. There was also a 65% increase in employment in the shipment sector in 2020. It is observed that electronic payments are adopted along with e-commerce in Turkey. While the share of card payments in total e-commerce transactions was 61% in 2020, the share of e-wallets in total e-commerce transactions has increased by 50% since 2019. In the report, suggestions for spreading the benefits of e-commerce to the social base are listed as:

• Balancing digital adaptation levels across regions and demographic classes
• Preventing the negative effects of packaging material usage and return activities on the environment
• Preventing the theft of financial and private data of individuals by cyber attacks
• Training the existing workforce and protecting employment in parallel with the digital transformation