Two Turkish companies among Europe’s five fastest growing e-retailers

ISTANBUL

Two Turkish companies, Morhipo and Hepsiburada.com, have become two of the top five fastest growing e-retailers in Europe, according to e-commerce research by Internet Retailer. 

Morhipo was the fastest growing e-retailer in Europe last year, growing 116.7 percent over the previous year, Turkish tech blog Webrazzi reported. 

Another Turkish e-retailer, Hepsiburada.com, ranked fifth in the list with around 90 percent growth in 2014 compared to the previous year. 

Fast-growing web merchants from Eastern Europe and Turkey have carved out niches in the e-commerce market, which is anchored by the mature markets of the United Kingdom, Germany and France, according to the report. 

“Without question, the Western European e-commerce strongholds of the U.K., Germany and France still lead e-commerce sales in the eurozone; for example, looking at the Top 50 e-retailers in this year’s Europe 500 rankings, 17 are based in the U.K. alone. But major shifts eastward are indicated by looking at the listing of the fastest-growing e-retailers: Two of the top five spots are claimed by retailers from Turkey and one from Russia,” said Internet Retailer.

“E-commerce across Europe is increasingly being spoken with Eastern European and Mediterranean accents, and savvy global retailers the world over ought to take note,” it added. 

Web sales grow 15.6 percent

Russia’s Wikimart Ltd was second on the list with 111.5 percent of growth in 2014 compared to the previous year, followed by Denmark’s Elgiganten at 100 percent and the U.K.’s Claire’s with 99.8 percent, according to the report. 

The 500 largest web merchants in Europe, hailing from 33 countries worldwide, collectively grew their web sales 15.6 percent in 2014, according to the report. Their web sales reached around $141.5 billion.

The Top 50 slightly grew higher to 16 percent, but more impressively, they command a 67.3 percent share of total European e-commerce sales, added the report. 

The Borner Group, one of Turkey’s biggest retailers, established Morhipo in 2011 in the field of private shopping. 

Established in 1998, Hepsiburada is owned by the Doğan Group, a leading Turkish conglomerate active in the media, energy, financial services and tourism sectors. The company offered over 500,000 products in more than 30 different categories in 2014.