Chinese e-commerce giant invests in Turkey

DHgate.com, the Chinese e-commerce giant, which has 6 trade centers in Hungary, the U.S., Russia and Germany, has opened its seventh digital business center in Turkey. DHgate Turkey General Manager, Hou Yibing, and Founding Partner, Ozkan Kara, spoke to daily DUNYA about their plans and the promising future in the Turkish market.

Improving cross-border digital commerce infrastructure between China and Turkey is based on the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation of e-Commerce for the Strengthening of the Development of the Information Silk Road,’ signed between the two countries on November 14, 2015. Within the scope of the agreement, Turkey is represented by the Ministry of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications while China is represented by the National Development and Reform Commission.

“The goal of this agreement is to create joint projects and increase mutual e-commerce between the two countries. And this creates many opportunities for entrepreneurs to make new partnerships,” Kara said.

The Chinese and other global companies will be exhibiting their products in this 500 square-meter trade center in Sisli. In addition, Turkish consumers will be able to place orders by seeing the products they want to buy. DHgate Turkey General Manager Hou Yibing underlined that the showroom is only the first investment for the company in Turkey.

Turkish producers to enter Chinese market

Yibing noted that DHgate launched its Turkey website in 2016 but unexpected events, such as the coup attempt, caused delays in the opening of the showroom. The opportunities for Turkey are many: DHgate brings together 1.4 billion products with their owners in 230 countries and the priority of the website is always B2B business. “We want to destroy the perception that made in China products are poor in quality and cheap with DHgate,” Yibing said. “We chose Turkey to enter a new and vibrant market. We will sell quality patented and certified products. We have a security system that examines all of the factories that have opened shops on our website.”

Within the scope of the project, Turkish producers also will be provided with financial, logistics and marketing support for their entry into the Chinese market and DHgate’s technological infrastructure is expected to accelerate this process.