Why Are Turkey’s Largest Conglomerates Building Marketplace Sites?
Recently many large groups have started opening marketplace e-commerce sites—in this model the site owner and multiple sellers can list and sell products. teknosa.com, which already operated as a B2C store (the owner sells only its own goods), changed its model and moved to a platform where other sellers can also offer products. Some of the newer marketplace-style sites launched in recent days include:
- Turkcell marketplace — https://www.turkcell.com.tr/pasaj
- İş Bankası marketplace (Pazarama) — https://www.pazarama.com/
- Teknosa marketplace — https://www.teknosa.com/
- Vodafone marketplace — mobile apps
So why have Turkey’s leading conglomerates begun opening marketplace after marketplace?
As is well known, in Turkey and worldwide—especially during the pandemic—e-commerce revenue grew rapidly. Many major brands learned from experience how to sell online and improve profitability, and over roughly the past two years they have shifted more investment into this channel instead of relying mainly on brick-and-mortar stores.
When the cost and lead time of opening a store in a mall or on a prime street are compared with the cost of scaling online—and when the resulting revenue potential of each channel is weighed—investments in e-commerce have often shown a faster payback and stronger return.
At the same time, large groups that decided to build e-commerce asked: while we sell our own products, why shouldn’t we also earn from other companies’ sales? As you know, hepsiburada.com, one of Turkey’s largest marketplaces, started years ago as a B2C site selling only its own inventory. In later years it spotted wider market opportunities, rebuilt on