E-commerce volume in Türkiye more than doubled last year

ANKARA

The e-commerce volume in Türkiye increased more than 115 percent last year from 2022 to reach 1.85 trillion Turkish Liras ($77.9 billion), according to a report by the Trade Industry.

The ministry forecasts that the e-commerce volume will hit 3.4 trillion liras and the number of transactions will reach 6.67 billion in 2024.

The share of e-commerce in general trade climbed from 10.1 percent in 2019 to 20.3 percent in 2023, said the ministry’s latest edition of “The Outlook of e-commerce in Türkiye” report.

E-commerce accounted for 6.8 percent of GDP last year, rising 33 percent from 2022.

Goods and services constituted 51 percent and 49 percent of the e-commerce volume, according to the report.

The top three sectors with the largest share in the total e-commerce volume were white goods and small household appliances with 233 billion liras, followed by electronics with 135 billion liras and clothing, footwear and accessories with 127 billion liras.

The number of businesses engaged in e-commerce in Türkiye reached 559,412 last year.

While some 540,000 businesses carried out e-commerce activities in marketplaces, around 35,000 companies conducted e-commerce activities through their own websites and applications.

The top five provinces with the highest number of e-commerce businesses were Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Antalya.

The provinces with the highest e-commerce adaptation scores were Istanbul, Kayseri, Çorum, İzmir and Kocaeli. The adaptation score is calculated based on different factors, such as the share of e-commerce in local GDP, the ratio of e-commerce sales to e-commerce purchases and e-commerce sales volume per e-commerce business in the province.

The report also found that the busiest month in terms e-commerce transactions was November, due to special occasions such as Teacher’s Day and discounts offered by retailers in this month. In November, e-commerce volume was 50 percent above the monthly averages for the whole year.

Consumers aged between 25 and 36 were the biggest spenders, with those aged 29 standing out among all shoppers online.

The average cargo delivery time across Türkiye was 46.2 hours, according to the report.

Most purchased items in the clothing segment were shoes, shirts, coats, jackets, pants and dresses, while in the electronic goods segment, air fryers, air conditioning, kitchen appliances, washing machine and refrigerators were the most popular items.