Turkish Black Friday increases traffic for e-commerce retailers by 9 times

BLACK Friday, re-labeled in Turkey as the “Great Friday” or “Legendary Friday,” revived local e-commerce as much as it did the sales at retail stores.

According to Medianova, a company that offers infrastructure services to e-commerce platforms, the traffic on e-commerce websites rose 90 percent to 160 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year. However, during Black Friday this year, Turkish e-retailers saw an in- crease in web traffic of up to 850 percent.

While web traffic on automobile and real estate websites did not change compared to last year, the websites for retail sales recorded a profound rise.

Medinova CEO Serkan Sevim highlighted that particularly the sales of home appliances, durable and electronic goods soared on Turkish Black Friday.

“A striking increase was observed in the sales of luxury segment apparel. Web- sites that sell luxury apparel saw a 575 percent increase in their traffic, which is an unlikely situation given the rise in exchange rates,” he said.

Online jewelry sales during Black Friday last year had recorded only a 10 percent increase. In comparison, jewelry sales this year rose by 70 percent on the mega shopping day, Medianova data showed.

The traffic on sales of toys via online platforms surged by 110 percent. During last Black Friday, the increase in toys sales was 186 percent compared to the previous year.

In addition, the use of mobile applications of e-retailers had risen by 47 percent during last year’s Black Friday frenzy. The figure soared to 61 percent this year, indicating that consumers’ interest in online platforms continues to grow.