Tekzen Continues Into 2019 with Growth Target

Tekzen Marketing Manager Mehmet Cem Kızılkaya commented on the past year's performance. Stating that Tekzen reached its target figures in 2018, Marketing Manager Mehmet Cem Kızılkaya said in his statement: "We closed 2018 with turnover on the order of TRY 1 billion. We have 138 stores in 59 provinces domestically and 4 stores abroad. We provide employment to approximately 3,000 people.

2019 Will Be the Year of "Omnichannel" and "Do-It-Yourself"

Kızılkaya also stated that from the perspective of being an effective distribution channel, they have development targets across all channels from DIY stores to express stores, from commercial sales to the Tekzen online site, and that they have increased their technological investments. Drawing attention to the rapid changes in consumer shopping dynamics, Tekzen Marketing Manager Mehmet Cem Kızılkaya noted that investing only in online is not sufficient and that physical retail and online retail must be managed with the same professional approach.

Retailers Able to Manage Online and Physical Sales Channels Simultaneously Will Succeed

Mehmet Cem Kızılkaya said, "The development of online retail is often seen as a threat to the retail sector, but this is not the correct approach. While traditional stores continue to be customers' first choice, omnichannel applications are becoming widespread and average sales per customer are increasing. With technological advances, customers' shopping experiences are becoming digitalized. Soon only those who succeed in managing both channels will survive in the sector. On our online channel, 200,000 product varieties reach every point in Turkey in the fastest and most reliable way. Our online sales channel's share in total online+offline turnover is 10 percent. We aim to increase this to 15 percent in 2020," he said. Also providing information about overseas operations, Mehmet Cem Kızılkaya said: "As Turkey's 100 percent domestically-owned retail chain, we will continue to evaluate our overseas investments in 2019 as well. In the fourth quarter of 2018, we signed a strategic partnership agreement with Al Meera Holding, Qatar's largest retailer. In 2019, we will continue our overseas activities that we accelerated as a result of our Qatar cooperation in markets in different countries," he said.