According to Interbank Card Center (BKM – Bankalararasi Kart Merkezi AS), an annual growth of 46% was registered with online credit card payments. Thanks to an evolving and growing e-commerce, credit card payment is getting competitive and it is expected that cards will keep their dominant role as a payment method.
Due to a tremendous development in communication and transportation infrastructure, Turkey has become a nice spot for e-commerce transactions as we described here. Besides the positive internet penetration (51% of population), important changes in legislation and investments in internet connections all over the country are boosting digital sales. The governmental security measures towards credit cards regulations, launched in September 2016, were crucial to reinforce this payment method locally.
One of the measures adopted by Turkey’s banking regulation and supervision agency (BDDK) last year was to ask for consent to all credit card holders by January 31st, 2018 in order to continue to use their cards for online purchases. The Banking Supervision and Regulation Agency (BDDK) in February stipulated that all credit card holders should give their card issuer’s approval to continue to use these cards for online purchases.
A recent report, published by Interbank Card Center (BKM – Bankalararasi Kart Merkezi AS), shows a significant change in shopping behavior in the last years. In 2017, the total value of online credit card payments in Turkey rose by 46%, representing the amount of 51.8 billion Turkish liras ($14.7 billion). When it comes to debit cards, a substantial difference is noticed with 6 billion Turkish liras (US$1.7 billion).
With this scenario, the agency reported that, at the end of November 2017, the number of bank cards available in the country reached 192.2 million units. About 62.2 million of them are credit cards and the remainder are debit cards. And growth prospects are still encouraging. According to the Turkish e-commerce association ETID´s estimates, e-commerce in Turkey will grow 30-35% in 2018 and aims to raise its e-commerce revenue to over 10 billion euros by the end of this year.
Actually, Turkey’s performance since 2000 has been impressive. Macroeconomic and fiscal stability were at the heart of its performance, enabling increased employment and incomes and making Turkey an upper-middle-income country. In this scenario, mobile payments are expected to be four times higher by the end of the period from 2015-2019. It’s expected that cards will keep their dominant role as a payment method.
In order to boost sales and expand your business in this market, a strong local partner is important for direct connections among international merchants and banks. BoaCompra’s coverage, for example, offers 18 different local payment methods in local currency and direct access to the biggest banks in the country.