Wedding shopping ramps up online orders

ISTANBUL

Online orders have increased as the new wedding season has arrived, according to the top executive of Turkey’s state-owned e-commerce platform.

“Wedding preparations fell under the shadow of the pandemic in the last two years,” said PttAVM.com General Manager Hakan Çevikoğlu on April 24.

This year, however, weddings will take place in normalized conditions as most of the measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease have been lifted, he said.

“We have seen that small home appliances and white goods sales are picking up. There has been a wedding boom in both online product searches and sales,” Çevikoğlu said.

PttAVM.com, a subsidiary of the national postal service PTT, has launched discount campaigns in categories of white goods, house decoration, kitchenware and home appliances. Some suppliers have joined the campaign with discount rates up to 20 percent.

Coffee machines comprise every 22 out of 100 online sales, whereas silverware and cooking tools make up 15 of them.

Çevikoğlu urged consumers to order products on platforms that have been certified as safe by the Trade Ministry and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).

Nearly 1 million couples are expected to tie the knot during summer, according to a statement released by the Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen Confederation (TESK) on April 16.

The cost of a wedding - including venue fees, jewelry, white goods and furniture sets - is estimated at around 150,000 ($10,240) to 200,000 Turkish Liras ($13,650).

Less than half a million couples got married in 2020. Last year, the number of weddings in Turkey increased 15 percent to 561,710.
Some couples opt for performing a small marriage ceremony instead of a wedding because of rising costs.