Turkish companies eye global branding

BURSA - Anadolu Agency

Executives of leading firms in Turkey want to see more Turkish brands marketed globally, the participants of a large business summit heard on March 23.

Traditional Turkish food chain Simit Sarayı is negotiating with another chain which has 85 locations in London to run them under the Turkish brand, company head Abdullah Kavukçu told the 7th Uludağ Economy Summit in the northwestern province of Bursa.

Simit Sarayı already has dozens of branches in London, he stressed. The company also has hundreds of branches in 22 countries, according to its website.

“We will enter two countries this year, and we will penetrate the Far Eastern market in 2019,” he added.

Kavukçu said the chain hopes to open 1,000 new branches overseas within five years.

“We open stores in the world’s best places. We want to make our brand name well-known around the world,” he added.

Gülden Sönmez, who serves on the board of leading Turkish clothing chain Koton, said developing and globalizing the Turkish fashion sector and Turkish brands are the most important opportunities in the Turkish ready-wear sector.

She said Turkey’s clothing sector could easily create global brands.

Ömer Kızıl, the CEO of soft drink maker Uludağ, also said Turkish brands should adopt smart branding strategies to grow abroad.

Kızıl added that Uludağ’s drinks are popular in German stores, where their lemonade became a “phenomenon.”

He said Uludağ’s mineral water is of better quality than world-famous brands and that they should capitalize on this.

Ümit Zaim, the CEO of leading Turkish leather company Deriden, said that they first hope to become a regional brand name and afterwards enter the European market.

The two-day summit, organized by the Capital and Ekonomist magazines, was attended by nearly 1,200 businesspeople from around the world.