• by Hannes Ben , April 1, 2014

The Turkish government's ban on Twitter was not only enforced with relatively weak technological tactics but also didn’t take into account the maturity and growth of the country’s internet population, one that has one of the fastest developing e-commerce markets worldwide.

In my role, I help global brands drive locally relevant marketing, on a global scale. One of the markets that continues to show e-commerce value time and again for our brands is Turkey.

With a population of approximately 74 million people and borders connecting the country with Europe and the Middle East, Turkey has one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets worldwide. It boasts an internet penetration of roughly 48%, equating to 36 million in 2013 that, although being below developed Western countries, is increasing at an incredibly fast rate. Only its relative economic wealth is holding it back from being a market with real influence on the global media landscape.

There are around 10 million online shoppers, and that is set to increase by 17% annually until 2016, which has been the driving force behind the £1.5 billion investment by online advertisers in 2013. Apart from the ad spend and internet take-up, it has new technology and services that have really supported the online economy in Turkey. Here are four examples from our experience in this market to date:

1. Advanced Payment Options: Turkey offers a wide variety of payment methods including wire transfer, credit/debit/pre-paid cards, online wallets (e.g., BKM Express, PayPal, iPara), Mobile Wallets as well as SMS-based systems. In short, internet shoppers are spoiled with the full range of payment systems which is conducive to the development of conversion rates.

2. Excellent Logistics: A combination of strong local and global partners resulting in quick and efficient delivery with mobile/online real-time tracking ensures that customers never lose track of their parcels. Some examples of well-known local postal services include Yurtici Kargo, Aras and MNG Kargo.

3. Mobile Internet Usage: Probably one of the most surprising and unexpected aspects about Turkey is the very high level of mobile internet penetration which currently stands at 89%. This is higher than in any of the major emerging markets including any of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. Mobile banking user numbers have increased by 68% and mobile money transactions by another 118% between 2011 and 2012 with strong growth expected well into 2014.

4. Social Media Coverage: Turkey is one of the top 10 countries globally for social media usage. In 2013, Turkey ranked seventh, closely behind the UK with around 32.5 million Facebook and 6.5 million Twitter users. One social internet portal unique to the Turkish market is called Mynet, engaging about 74% of Turkish internet users with a range of services from videos to news, games and lifestyle.
This activity and engagement will harbour commercial demand for brands, products and services with search engines being one of the most valued marketing channels. Google is by far the most dominant search engine in Turkey with 99% market share followed by tiny percentages split evenly across Bing, Ask and Yandex.  Cost per clicks are up to 50% lower than other markets which helps facilitate generic (non-brand keywords) traffic growth which is important for brand awareness.  However, average order value can be up to 30% lower than in other countries that means identifying and pushing the right keywords is vital for delivering profitable market growth.

Full localisation of marketing campaigns as well as site content is crucial in order to gain higher conversion rates. Partial localisation, meaning a mix of English and Turkish is not very well received and can, in fact, have negative ramifications on site performance.

Government social media bans aside, if you’re looking to grow your brand internationally, Turkey is worth considering with a strong presence across all key social media platforms combined with a fully localised content marketing strategy.  With 17% forecasted yearly growth in the number of online shoppers until 2016, brands can’t afford to be left behind by underestimating the market opportunity available.