--- title: Turkey’s promising e-commerce outlook - BoaCompra description: BoaCompra helps international businesses access local payments in Latin America and is fully integrated with PagSeguro/PagBank's ecosystem. --- [PagSeguro Blog | Local payments and business in Latin America ](https://blog.international.pagseguro.com/en) # [Turkey’s promising e-commerce outlook - BoaCompra](https://blog.international.pagseguro.com/en/turkeys-promising-e-commerce-outlook) Written by [PagSeguro Team](https://blog.international.pagseguro.com/en/author/pagseguro-team) | Feb 12, 2020 3:00:00 AM Nation heir of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey seems to be regaining the splendor of its ancestors as is now considered an [emerging market and one of the world’s newly industrialized countries](https://www.statista.com/statistics/263612/gross-domestic-product-gdp-growth-in-turkey/). In fact, the socio-economic framework that has been drawn in recent years puts Turkey on the spotlight, making it a very attractive market for international merchants interested in reaching Turkish consumers. The Turkish economy had a steady growth until 2017; however, there were several internal and external factors which led to its downturn. Despite this fact according to the World Bank, if these conditions are dealt with effectively there is  [growth recovery expectation in 2020](https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/turkey/overview#1). Given this context, it is more than pertinent to look at the state of Turkey’s economy and its market, especially regarding the prospects of e-commerce. ### **A brief overlook of Turkey’s economy** What immediately stands out since the first approach to this market are two main aspects: the fact that Turkey is a member of the [G20](http://www.oecd.org/g20/), the group of the most important economies in the world; and the fact that it was one of the emerging markets with the largest GDP at current prices in the world in 2018 ([USD 766.43 billion](https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD)). Along this fact, Turkey was among the European countries with the highest GDP at current market prices in 2018, having ranked in [7th place in top 10](https://www.statista.com/statistics/613071/gdp-by-country-in-europe/). Regarding the share of economic sectors in the 2017’s GDP, services had the highest contribution [53.37%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/255494/share-of-economic-sectors-in-the-gross-domestic-product-in-turkey/), followed by industry [29.16%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/255494/share-of-economic-sectors-in-the-gross-domestic-product-in-turkey/) and agriculture [6.08%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/255494/share-of-economic-sectors-in-the-gross-domestic-product-in-turkey/).   To these indicators of economic growth, it shall be added the following: - [82 million](https://www.statista.com/statistics/263753/total-population-of-turkey/) inhabitants in 2018.  - The [youngest and fastest growing population in Europe](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-business-risk-turkey/overseas-business-risk-turkey).  - The city of Istanbul’s economy alone is larger than the [collective economies of twelve EU countries](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-business-risk-turkey/overseas-business-risk-turkey).  Overall, this is the economic context that has been leveraging the Turkish economy, enabling the conditions for its foreseeable growth. ### **The evolution of e-commerce in Turkey** In Turkey, the economic context has enabled a steady increase in the e-commerce market over the past few years, as numbers indicate: the size of the e-commerce market was [USD 12.5 billion in 2018](https://www.export.gov/article?id=Turkey-eCommerce), a [8%](https://www.export.gov/article?id=Turkey-eCommerce) increase from the previous year. Regarding the consumer behavior, e-commerce has the highest share ([43.7%](https://www.statista.com/study/48360/turkey/)) in the total expected digital revenues in 2019. Taking these numbers into account, the question arises: what are the key points that contributed to this scenario? -  [54.1](https://www.emarketer.com/forecasts/5a2977babdbb200dcc1fa6ef/58d4261dbff5e30dd4333021) million internet users in 2018. - Internet penetration rate of [66.6%](https://www.emarketer.com/forecasts/5a2977babdbb200dcc1fa6ef/58d4261dbff5e30dd4333021)  in 2018. - [37.9%](https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Mobile_Market_Report_Free.pdf?submissionGuid=194cd6ba-d2f0-43fe-a77b-98eb2749fd0d) smartphone penetration in 2018. - In 2017, an estimated [30%](https://www.jpmorgan.com/merchant-services/insights/reports/turkey) of e-commerce was carried out on  mobile devices, which represented [USD 3.5 billion](https://www.jpmorgan.com/merchant-services/insights/reports/turkey) in a total transaction value. - In 2017, [67%](https://www.jpmorgan.com/merchant-services/insights/reports/turkey) of smartphone users said that they wanted to use their devices for online payments in the future. - The price advantage is the main reason ([56%](https://www.export.gov/article?id=Turkey-eCommerce)) presented by Turkish consumers for purchasing online. With the expectation of a rising line in the aforementioned set, it’s projected a growth of [24.2%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1050000/menasa-expected-growth-of-ecommerce-spend-by-country/) of e-commerce spending by 2020. When it comes to revenues, there’s an expected [positive annual average growth of 2.9% from 2019 up to 2023](https://www.statista.com/study/48360/turkey/), which will result in “electronics & media” and “fashion” being the main product categories primarily purchased online. As for the preferred way to pay for online purchases, payment cards ([64%](https://www.jpmorgan.com/merchant-services/insights/reports/turkey)) were the most used method among Turkish consumers in 2018, followed by cash-based payments ([15%](https://www.jpmorgan.com/merchant-services/insights/reports/turkey)) and bank transfers ([10%)](https://www.paymentscardsandmobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Global-Payments-Report_Digital-2018.pdf). It is also important to mention mobile payments (which are included in the “Other” category in the table below) because they can be a relevant alternative payment method in certain segments, such as gaming. Turkey’s promising economic landscape is attracting business however, to penetrate this market one must be aware that this is a country with a very different culture, where the weight of religion and tradition is an undeniable  fact. That is why it is recommended that international companies partner with a local expert such as [BoaCompra](https://boacompra.com/en), whose expertise and knowledge of the Turkish market can help these companies to overcome potential adversities and master their e-commerce business. Get in touch with us to learn how BoaCompra can help your company expand to this promising market: [View full post](https://blog.international.pagseguro.com/en/turkeys-promising-e-commerce-outlook) ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "PagSeguro Team" }, "dateModified" : "2022-05-30T15:16:07.469Z", "datePublished" : "2020-02-12T03:00:00Z", "headline" : "Turkey’s promising e-commerce outlook", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 539, "url" : "https://19718165.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/19718165/Imported_Blog_Media/Banner-Blog2-3.jpg", "width" : 1500 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://blog.international.pagseguro.com/en/turkeys-promising-e-commerce-outlook", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 60.0, "url" : "https://19718165.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/19718165/pagseguro_160x50-1.png", "width" : 192.0 }, "name" : "PagSeguro Blog | Local payments and business in Latin America" } } ```