By Bahattin Gonultas
ANKARA
Turkey’s online retail market is expected to double to 14 billion Turkish lira ($5.2 billion) by 2020 from 7 billion ( $2.6 billion) in 2015, according to a report from the Boston Consulting Group and Boomerang Commerce titled 'Multichannel Pricing Strategy'.
"There is fierce competition in the retail sector in Turkey," Burak Tansan, partner and managing director of BCG Turkey, said. "The conditions of competition have also changed. The rules of the game have been rewritten with the development of the digital world."
Turkey’s Internet economy is expected to reach 2.6 percent of GDP by 2017. An increasing number of consumers go online, check prices from both online and bricks-and-mortar stores, and then choose where to buy, the report says. This puts great pressure on retailers both online and offline for pricing.
"Consumers now use more than one channel in shopping and are more demanding. They compare the products and prices of different firms from computers, tablets or smartphones and read comments. Then they shop online or go to a shop. Most retailers are unaware which price is the right one, which campaign is effective and how to raise or lower prices," Tansan said.
Finding a viable pricing strategy, then providing a satisfying experience for consumers online, and then providing workable logistics for rapid delivery are all challenges to Turkish retailers.
The total size of the retail sector in Turkey was estimated to have reached over $300 billion in 2014 and was expected to grow 7 percent between 2015 and 2018, according to a report of 'Retail sector update' in July last year by Deloitte Turkey.
