The volume of e-commerce in Turkey has grown 39% year-on-year in 2019, according to an industrial report Wednesday.
The e-commerce market size hit TL 83.1 billion ($14.6 billion) last year, according to a joint report by Turkey's Informatics Industry Association (TÜBİSAD), Deloitte Turkey, SimilarWeb and Inveon.
The average annual growth rate of the sector was around 35% in the last five years, the report showed.
With a volume of TL 44.9 billion, online retail had the highest market share with 43% last year.
"Pure online retail" posted the largest hike among subsectors, rising 48% year-on-year to TL 30.8 billion.
Kübra Erman Karaca, the head of TÜBİSAD, stressed the upward trend of the sector despite global trade wars and uncertainties in global political conjuncture.
"We have witnessed new categories that performed a very rapid growth by providing the consumer with a fast delivery experience and that people who have never used e-commerce have become users," Karaca said.
She stressed the sector can post better growth figures this year thanks to the increasing use of mobile phones and the share of both mobile internet and applications in e-commerce.
Hakan Göl, a partner of Deloitte Turkey, underlined that the share of e-commerce in the country's total retail sector hit 6.2%, adding that the current level falls short of the potential despite the strong growth.
Pointing to the coronavirus' impact on digitalization, Gol said: "COVID-19 showed that e-commerce is not an alternative channel anymore."
He noted that companies focused on digital transformation and e-commerce will stand out not only in Turkey but also in global markets.
