E-commerce more appealing as Turks get richer

The British fund AIM and its business partner SBK Holding, which are subsidized by American funds, have purchased the e-commerce website bukombin.com, following German Delivery Hero's purchase of yemeksepeti.com for $589 million in May.

Increasing the purchasing power of Turkish people changes their consumption habits and makes the investments in online shopping more appealing for foreign investors. The country's income per capita has peaked at $10,542 in 2014, up from $4,219 in 2000. Electronic commerce volume in Turkey has increased 35 percent in 2014 in comparison with the previous year, reaching a volume of TL 18.9 billion, according to Istanbul-based Informatics Industry Association. This means that e-commerce represents 1.6 percent of overall retail business in the country, the association disclosed. Growth in e-commerce in 2013 amounted to TL 14 billion. E-commerce websites in Turkey do not only serve Turkish customers, but also have networks in the wider region.

Baran Korkmaz, the CEO of SBK holding, a company that has recently come to the fore with its purchase of pharmaceutical, automotive and textiles companies, said they would invest $50 million in the website that has five million followers. A few months ago, SBK holding inked an agreement with AIM to manage $600 million that the fund would invest in Turkey. As a first step, business partners leased an office of 2,500 square meters in Maslak, Istanbul and they plan to invest $5 million to develop the website's software. A monthly trade volume of TL 40 million is achieved through bukombin.com that offers clothing combinations to its visitors by bringing together the products of different clothing brands. Can Demirer, the founder of bukombin.com, said the website attracts the greatest attention from Anatolian cities, particularly from Adana and Diyarbakır, where the inadequacy of clothing shops pushes people to online shopping to find the clothing combinations from different brands.