The Most Popular Retail Chains in Turkey

The retail chains in Turkey are developed with catching the latest trends and technologies. Combining the newer versions of traditional retail sales and technological modern solutions such as online sales gave big growth capacity to the retail chains in Turkey.

The well-developed infrastructure of these brands brought them a double-digit growth rate for years. Today, there are thousands of retail shops of these brands in each city of Turkey.

Being close to amenities is one of the main factors in choosing a new home for foreigners who are buying property in Turkey, relocating, or investing in real estate assets. Foreign buyers can choose it as their next home if the house is located next to daily amenities such as markets and shopping centers. That’s why we listed some of the best retail chain markets in Turkey.

The Development of Retail Chain Markets in Turkey

Market, food, This high development of supermarket chains in Turkey was not expected not more than 20 years ago. The main reason behind it was the bazaar tradition was still in effect. The bazaars in Turkey was the weekly or monthly purchasing place for grocery and sometimes for clothing. The bazaars are still preferable, but their area of effect is limited.

The bazaars are active in some neighborhoods and generally for once a week. The supermarkets in Turkey took the important place of bazaars with more working days, a larger variety of products, and discount offers.

Turkey’s leading supermarket chains are also involved in online shopping. In the age of the internet, aiming only at physical sales and leaving the big market of online shopping is considered a big loss for corporations. That’s why most of the biggest supermarkets in Turkey have an online presence. Online buyers can find the products they want with a few clicks and they will be delivered in a few minutes to their desired address.

Although it is advantageous to buy in a short time without even going outside, physical sales are still important for property buyers. If the property is located close to the local amenities in Turkey, it gives a big price increase to the property for both the rent and sale processes.

As the cost of living in Turkey slightly increases due to the global crisis, it is good to have a physical branch of a supermarket near the home. The supermarkets in Turkey can have different discount offers for both online and physical stores. So, it will be good to benefit both of them in limited discount times.

Which Retail Chains are the Most Popular in Turkey?

The retailing sector has a high amount of Turkey’s GDP. Competition between the companies leads them to search for new methods. The best supermarkets in Turkey are trying to increase their market share. They are looking for further improvements to their system.

In this period, customers can benefit from the big discounts and wider product options. Turkey’s top supermarkets also make it easier to living in Turkey for foreigners with staff that can speak English. The best supermarket chains are:

Migros

It is considered one of the best retail chain markets in Turkey. Migros was founded in 1954 by a Swiss company. In 1975, it is bought by Koc Holding, one of the biggest companies in Turkey.

The golden era of Migros started after the 90s and it peaked after the 2000s. The company has more than two thousand branches in various cities. The branches of Migros are divided into 5 in accordance with their size.

Migros Jet – They are the smallest branches and are considered mini-markets
M Migros – They are selling basic groceries and limited types of non-food products
MM Migros – In addition to the basic groceries, they offer more variety of non-food products
MMM Migros – These supermarkets are selling nearly everything, including textile products, household electric appliances, bakeries, books, cosmetics, and stationery.
5M Migros – These are large shopping malls with shops of different brands. They are generally located in tourist resorts such as the Mediterranean coast.

It is one of the most popular supermarket chains with more than 6 million loyal card users. Annually, 160 million people are using the markets of Migros. Also, it has an online shopping system called Migros Hemen. Currently, it also has branches in Kazakhstan and North Macedonia.

A101

It is one of the biggest discount stores in Turkey. It has more than 11.000 branches in 81 cities and 923 districts. The main highlight of A101 is the employment of the disabled and women. The supermarket is aiming to increase the employment of these social groups.

It has various discounts on a weekly basis. The online shopping system of the supermarket is also active by mobile app and it is called “A101 Kapımda”. It is popular for its unique discounts. A101 is founded in 2008.

BİM

It is a discount store founded in 1995. It is founded with the main aim of offering basic food and consumer goods at high-quality and affordable prices. It is the first example of a hard discount store in Turkey.

In 1997, BİM presented Dost Milk, the first private label in Turkey. It has more than 8530 branches in Turkey. BİM also has branches in Egypt and Morocco.

The company has the biggest market share in the retail chain sector. It has the widest area of effect with more than 60 thousand workers and thousands of branches. It also has an online shopping service that offers a wider range of products.

ŞOK

It is founded in 1995 as the discount store form of Migros. Later, the chain is bought by Yildiz Holding and divided from Migros. It is the third largest competitor in the discount store market. The main goal of the company was to set up a network of low-cost supermarkets offering cheap products.

It has more than 40 thousand workers and 9000 branches. It also has a mobile app called Cepte ŞOK for online shopping and deliveries. It has branches in all cities of Turkey.

CarrefourSA

It is a supermarket chain founded in 1991 by a joint venture of French chain Carrefour and Turkish Sabanci Holding. The main feature of CarrefourSA is bringing western food retail practices to Turkey. The supermarket chain has a Gourmet type branch in addition to Hyper, Super, and Mini formats. The gourmet branches offer a wide variety of food retail.

CarrefourSA has more than 600 branches in 52 cities in Turkey. It also has a website for online shopping. It has a total of 500 thousand daily customers combining both physical and online sales.

The development of the retail market chains in Turkey offered new opportunities to the country. This includes giving a more stable market to foreigners. Especially in each tourist destination where tourists only can look for Turkish delight in covered markets.

Today, the foreigners who want to move to Turkey want a home close to supermarkets in addition to a sea view. It is a known fact that property purchases increase in the area with large daily amenities available. Also, expats live and buy Turkish properties in areas where they can easily reach daily amenities.

Low prices, a wide variety of products, and easy-access opportunities helped supermarkets to take place of the grand bazaar tradition in modern times.

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