Yesterday and Today of Turkish Consumers

Turkey, one of the fastest growing consumer markets in the world has gone through major changes since its establishment in 1923.

From an illiterate nation with hardly any privileges of communication and socialization and no modern utilities, the Turkish people have progressed to be fastest developing consumer crowds who are ready to adopt new technologies and trends.

In 1950s when there was hardly any means of consumer communication, brand management was totally a different activity which required long time and hard work. It took years to establish a brand in the market.

Whereas today, a newcomer brand can be an overnight hero, thanks to the enormous opportunities introduced by mass media communication and certainly advertising practices.

In the past patriotism meant a lot when making a preference between alternative products and goods of Turkish origin would be given the first priority by consumers to protect the Turkish manufacturers. Today however this is certainly not the case and goods of foreign origin can easily have the first preference provided they are globally in trend. In fact, young crowds who are very much connected the world via internet care much for foreign products, and seem to have forgotten all about the support  their ancestors were supposed to give domestic production, in the past.

On the other hand it could easily be said Turks are very much price oriented and not quality aware as they should be. This obviously has to do with education level as well as financial capability and Turkish consumers are definitely in need to improve themselves in this regard.

To give a striking example when toilet paper was first launched in this country about 35 years ago, the sales reps trying to market the product in the underdeveloped regions and cities such as Van etc (in southeastern Turkey) were given a terrible reception by business owner wholesalers only because those people had not seen such a product until then and they had their traditional ways of getting clean in the restroom.

After a very short while however this specific product became a best seller in Turkey (including referred region) and was even a locomotive product, to sell other goods with it.

And today any new electronic good, computers and mobiles to be in the first place certainly, meet a very high demand from locals, whether it be be in big metropoles or rural cities.

Cars for instance are treated as a sign of social status in which case one can see many families with a brand new car but a lot of debts to the banks and “no interest in social and especially cultural activities” to improve themselves..

In the past there were hardly any alternatives among which the consumer could make a choice.. Whereas now the consumer has such a wide spectrum of choices ranging from ones locally made to others imported from abroad, China, Europe, America etc.

To cut a long story short Turkey is a very fertile market where a powerful commercial establishment can exhibit its presence in a very short time especially making use of modern promotion tools  such as TV advertising etc. All the economical and technical infrastructure are made ready in this country for such commercial operations. The increase in average GDP is a major factor contributing to this situation, as well.

Turks like to show their toys and they certainly enjoy playing with them. It sounds like a very feasible market to have presence in, does it not?

BTT