Transformation Starts – Retail Stores and e-commerce uniting

The leading local e-commerce platform developer of Turkey, Positive A Digital Approach, offered some predictions regarding the future of the retail sector. According to Positive, within the next five years, the e-commerce websites of leading retail brands will be on top lines of the store ratings sorted on a turnover basis. Simultaneously, the e-commerce websites will be the key determinants of the marketing strategies of such brands.

Retail and e-commerce are amongst the most popular sectors not only in Turkey but, globally as well. The volume of the e-retail within the retail sector all over the world is at an average level of 7 %. This level goes up to 11 % in Western Europe countries. By the end of 2016, it is expected to reach 2% in our country.

Emphasizing on the irrevocable importance of the e-commerce for the growth of the retail sector, Caner Istı, co-founder of Positive A Digital Approach continued, “Although the growth rate of the retail sector still keeps its two digit levels, this rate shows a decline when considered globally. The principal factor to accelerate the growth rate of the retail sector relies on its digital transformation to be achieved by means e-commerce. Especially the widely known brands may reach their sales targets in regions where they will not be able to open new stores via these e-commerce websites.”

Websites steer retailing.

Stating that the e-commerce websites determine where to open their next store for these brands when ranked according to the density of the cities and regions, Caner Istı mentioned that, “If a brand has no store in a city or a region which has a certain potential in the volume of visitors and sales then such places take the priority in their store strategies. Using Click & Collect users can choose and purchase a product from the website and receive it from the store to refrain from the delivery costs. Thus, the brands attract the consumers to their stores and find the opportunity for a new sale during the handling of the product. Consequently, such brands can decide on the frequency and number of their stocks in each store according to the data they gain from their websites.”

Mobile usage affects in-store marketing.

Using the penetration achieved by mobile devices, such mobile channels steer the strategies of the retailers. Drawing the attention to the point that using mobile applications the opportunity to find the nearest store and in-store products, Istı further explained that, “More than 50% of the traffic of the e-commerce websites is realized by mobile devices. The volume of mobile searches the locations where users look for certain brands become a crucial data for the marketing departments. While gathering the marketing plans, the data obtained through the e-commerce channels plays a critical role for these brands. All this data indicates that within the next five years, the concept of “commerce” will experience a transformation. A good and successful commerce of retail brands will not only be just to purchase the best product and open a store in the right place but, to integrate all these to their present commerce processes by uniting them with their digital channels and complete their e-retail transformation.

Retail Sector converges to Click & Collect.

The Click & Collect method, which grants the users the convenience to chose a product on the internet, order it and receive it from a certain store they select is one of the hottest issues all over the world in the agenda of e-commerce and retail. This Click & Collect installation reserves various advantages for many brands with its key feature of increasing the customer experience. Users may receive their products, whenever they desire, even in weekends from the store they will choose without queueing and have the possibility to return it if they dislike, increases the sustainable customer experience.

Underlining the fact that, by means of Click & Collect which enhances the meter square efficiency, brands find the opportunity to sell some other product to the customers who come to the store to collect their product, Istı, “Within the near future by means of this method which will prevail soon, with data gathered, the stores will be able to decide on the stock levels and frequencies of their products. Within the next five years, the magnitude of the retail brands will be measured not only by the meter square dimensions but, by the ratio of meter square efficiency as well. The increase in the rental costs of shopping malls, brands tend to more selective means, and by using the Click & Collect opportunity they desire to be able to market their whole product span regardless of the meter square size of their stores. Click & Collect will be the most frequently used omnichannel solution of the retail brands within the next year.

One-third of the retailers and ¾ of the supermarkets do not practice e-commerce yet.

According to an analysis of Positive a Digital Approach, the top ten biggest retail companies earn the 75% of the total turnover of the whole retail sector. This amount reaches a level of 47,5 billion Turkish Liras. 5 of these ten brands earning 47,5 billion TL do not have an e-commerce website yet. When we consider the top 100 retailers, we observe that 35 of them do not have e-commerce websites as well.

The highest turnover ratio in the retail sector is earned in the supermarket category. Within the top 100, 17 supermarket brands earn a turnover of around 42,6 billion TL. 13 of this 17 brands do not possess an e-commerce website. Caner Istı further stated that “Users now prefer to purchase even fresh foods through the internet. According to a statistic announced by a leading company which grants supermarket products through the internet also, one fifth of the customers prefer to buy meat while visiting the store whereas two-fifths of the customers buy meat on the internet. According to data given by the same brand, the shopping cart average is higher for the purchases made on the internet. That is a substantial evidence of the potential accommodates in e-commerce.”

Please feel free to watch our video for further information presented by Caner Istı in Turkish below.