Esteemed Shareholders, Business Partners and Employees,
The retail sector, which has contributed significantly to the Turkish economy by providing employment, continues to grow. Organized retailing is growing rapidly within the sector on a 10-year performance basis, and the accelerated development of discount markets plays an important role in this growth. Discount markets maintain their leadership in revenue growth thanks to the sales points opened in great numbers during the last three years.
Price and proximity appear to be the most important factors driving the growth of discount stores. As a result of aggressive growth in the last three years, discount stores have maintained their leadership in the market in terms of the number of stores. Within the same period, the turnover of the existing stores of ŞOK Marketler has increased and the Company has become one of the fastest-growing food retail companies due to the impact created by its new stores.
As ŞOK Marketler, our most important focus is the consumer. As consumer habits shape the future of the sector, the changing and developing needs of our consumers played an important role in the rapid growth of the discount store concept. Affordable prices and easy accessibility encourage consumers to shop at discount stores. The principle reason that ŞOK Marketler is the fastest-growing retail chain in Turkey is our consumer-oriented business approach. We focus on our customers, listen to them and respond to their requests. We conduct numerous surveys to understand customer perception and expectations and act in light of this information.
In this regard, we re-designed our store concept and business model at the beginning of 2016. Today, this concept allows our customers from all provinces of Turkey to have an easy shopping experience in a spacious environment. Our diversified model drives our growth in Europe’s most attractive retail market.
The retail sector is a rapidly changing consumer-centric sector, with each player having different dynamics. Today, one of the most important items on our sector’s agenda is digitalization. Our consumers love technology and quickly adapt to changes and innovations. As digitalization is expected to accelerate in the coming years, ŞOK Marketler successfully evolves with the changes in our customers’ habits in this direction, thanks to our business model and processes.
In recent years, one of the fastest-growing categories in the retail sector has been the exclusive-branded products. Increasing consumer confidence and the satisfaction of those who buy the products have been important factors in the growth of the exclusive-branded lines.
As ŞOK Marketler, we provide customers with a wide selection of 1,500 products in the categories of food and non-food products. We also offer alternatives for consumer needs. We sell prominent and recognized brands of the sector, such as Mis, Piyale, Mintax, Evin and Amigo, that customers can buy exclusively in ŞOK Marketler stores.
We are a very large family with more than 7,200 stores across 81 provinces of Turkey, and our number of employees approaching 30,000.
We also get rewarded for our efforts. ŞOK Marketler received the “Best Discount Market for Customer Experience Management Award” at Marketing Türkiye Magazine’s 2016 A.L.F.A Awards, and our mobile application, “Cep’te ŞOK” was named the “Best Digital Channels Project” at IDC Retail Technology Awards 2017. Our efforts have borne fruit this year. Due to the employment that we created, in 2019, ŞOK Marketler was listed among the Fortune 500’s top 10 companies which have steadily increased their employment; the Fortune 500 recognizes the largest 500 companies of Turkey with awards in different categories. The Company also received an award in the category of “Companies with the Highest Number of Employees.” Furthermore, we ranked as Turkey’s 3rd largest retailer in terms of the number of stores at Capital Magazine’s Retail Innovation and Awards event, and we ranked 34th in the “Most Valuable Turkish Brands Report” issued by Brand Finance. These awards indicate the precision and strategic value of our investments.
By making a difference with our unique model, ŞOK Marketler continues to grow together with our customers, suppliers, shareholders, employees. As one of Turkey’s fastest-growing food retail chains, we put our minds and hearts together in everything we do for mutual success. We contribute to the strengthening of our country’s economy while adding value for our consumers by accomplishing commendable goals.
I would like to extend my gratitude and thanks to our shareholders for redoubling our power, our business partners for sharing our common vision and goals, and our valuable employees and our customers for their appreciation of our efforts.
Yours sincerely,
Cengiz Solakoğlu
ŞOK Marketler Tic. A.Ş.
Chair of the Board of Directors
