Business-to-business e-commerce is growing among companies in Turkey, aided by financial assistance the country provides to help business sell through international online marketplaces.
Turkey’s Ministry of the Economy launched last year an incentive program to encourage companies to sell their products and services through such e-marketplaces as Alibaba.com and TurkishExporter.net, says Hüsnü Dilemre, deputy undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy. The program, which also helps companies sell through retail e-marketplaces, covers about 80% of the cost of marketplace membership for each participating company in up to five online marketplaces for up to three years, he adds. The maximum of support per company is $2,000 annually.
To participate in the program, companies must be part of a collective group of companies through such organizations as the Turkish Exporters Assembly or the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, Dilemre says. He adds that the Turkish Exporters Assembly, also known by its Turkish acronym, TIM, has signed membership agreements with Alibaba.com, Kompass.com and TurkishExporter.net, with more than 1,340 companies signed onto the marketplaces as of July 2017. Another several hundred companies affiliated with the TIM are in the process of joining the three marketplaces, Dilemre says.
“Through the projects, it is estimated that 10,000 firms will be using those marketplaces,” he says. The TIM is an umbrella organization of 13 exporters’ unions in Turkey, representing such industries as machinery, chemistry, textiles and food, Dilemre says.
The Ministry of Economy also offers other programs designed to help companies build international awareness of their e-commerce operations, he adds.
Dilemre and other Turkish economic officials appeared on a panel about B2B e-commerce during a May 2017 conference of the American Turkish Council, an organization that promotes economic and government ties between Turkey and the United States. Ashley Olcer, manager of business intelligence and strategy, global sales and international seller services, for Amazon.com Inc, and a board member of the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce & Industry, appeared on the panel and said companies have also joined the Amazon.com marketplace with financial assistance from the Turkish government. Further details about Amazon’s participation were not immediately available.
The panel’s audience of Turkish and U.S. companies also heard comments on growth in B2B e-commerce sales, e-commerce technology, digital marketing and related trends from Jay Ceyhun Dogan, chief financial officer of online textile wholesaler Tayse Rugs; Justin King, a partner with e-commerce consultants B2X Partners; and B2BecNews editor Paul Demery.
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