Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that Anatolia is home to dozens of civilizations with its 12,000-year history and has thousands of regional products.

Underlining the need to bring these values to the economy, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Last year, the geographically marked product market in the world reached 200 billion dollars annually. The largest share of this market is the European Union (EU). Geomarked products account for 17 percent of the Union's agricultural food exports. Unfortunately, we realized the importance of this work too late. In fact, our local and geographically marked products are our wealth, our national values. It is our duty to protect this legacy.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the registration and commercialization of geomarked products as TOBB is one of the most important agenda items, “Together with our chambers and exchanges, we increase their added value and gain commercial value by registering the geomark of local values. We also bring manufacturers and retailers together to help market and sell local products nationwide. Thanks to the intensive work done by our chambers and exchanges, we have no provinces without registration. As of the end of 2020, 261, or 42 percent, of the 627 protected geographical signs were registered by TOBB-affiliated chambers and exchanges.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that as TOBB, chambers and exchanges guide the applications for geomarking with the EU, and that 7 geomarkers of Turkey are registered in the EU, 5 are registered by chambers and exchanges, and 21 geomarks have been submitted to the EU application stage.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they will not be satisfied with these, noting: “With the regional products program that we launched today, geomarked products are now also on virtual shelves. With this program, all of which are implemented with the support of Hepsiburada, geomarked products will be able to reach all parts of the country with a single click via e-commerce. We will directly support our local producers with low commissions, appropriate advertising and shipping agreements to be offered during the campaign period. On the other hand, we will contribute to the digitization of our local producers with packaging, branding, sales-marketing and photography trainings that we will organize in cooperation with our chambers and exchanges and Hepsiburada.”

- Seal application will prevent counterfeiting in geomarked products

Answering the questions of the participants, Hisarcıklıoğlu noted that consumers want to consume real geomarked products which have been inspected, “Now we will further activate the audit system to prevent fraud in geomarkings. We will utilize non-replicable seals, certifying these products. We are still working on that,” he said.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that e-commerce is a shopping avenue whose share has grown rapidly in recent years, and reminded that the volume of e-commerce increased by 66 percent in 2020, and has become more evident with the pandemic.

- “Our goal is to include at least 1 local producer in all 971 districts of 81 provinces in the first place”

Hanzade Doğan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hepsiburada, pointed out that the Turkish brand Hepsiburada was the first Turkish company to go public on Nasdaq on July 1^st, and said, “The very positive reactions we received, the gratitude shown by all our stakeholders to Hepsiburada, while increasing our happiness and increased our responsibility. We said this was just the beginning and we have stepped up our efforts to create more value for our small and medium-sized businesses and customers who are our partners. In order to support the local, sustainable development of our country, we are launching the All From Turkey Regional Products Program.”

Doğan stated that as Turkey's Hepsiburada, they will continue to be a platform that allows small and medium-sized enterprises to grow their businesses, carries them to new regions and brings their products to customers they would never dream of reaching. “‎We will grow our business together with our SMEs, we will open up to the world together.‎ And I hope that in the not too distant future, we will see other Turkish companies that share this vision and achieve sustainable growth in the world's leading financial and technology platforms such as Nasdaq.”

Doğan reminded that Hepsiburada started its journey 20 years ago as a small business in a modest apartment in İstanbul, “Since then, our scale, speed, reach has improved and changed a lot, but our business approach, our approach to our customers, the excitement and diligence we feel when delivering each product has not changed at all. We have always taken care to serve with a small business excitement and entrepreneurial spirit.”

Doğan stated that they have taken another step in the name of inclusiveness and sustainable growth today and stated that they have launched their program from All From Turkey with TOBB support and cooperation.

Doğan pointed out that it is the most comprehensive local producer digitalization program ever implemented in Turkey in terms of its scale and content, “With this program, we provide e-commerce opportunities to our domestic producers who have not previously done e-commerce, giving them access to Turkey as a whole. Our goal is to include at least 1 local producer in all 81 provinces and 971 districts of our country in the first place and thus contribute to the local, sustainable development move.”

- 1 percent commission for launch to local manufacturers

Local producers participating in the Regional Products Program will be charged a commission rate of 1 percent up to 10,000 liras specific to the launch. Special training programs will be organized for sellers who are not familiar with e-commerce.

All of them will also offer free training support in cooperation with TOBB's 365 Chambers and Exchanges on topics such as content management, product entry and order process management, 360 degree store panel, campaign and discounts planning, recommendations to increase sales. Local producers, all of whom participate in the Regional Products Program from Turkey, will be offered free photo shoot support for up to 100 products and discounted shipping will be provided at corporate prices.

Taxpayer SMEs, women entrepreneurs, cooperatives, tradesmen producing traditional Turkish handicrafts, all of whom will be able to sell their products from the Regional Products Program from Turkey.

Local producers, all of whom are business partners here, will then be able to open their stores in the marketplace and participate in the program by creating a demand from the store management panel under the heading “I want to sell local products”.

SMEs, local producers or entrepreneurs who still have stores in the Hepsiburada marketplace will only need to create demand through the seller panel to sell their regional products, which are characteristic to the region in which they are produced.