The Turkish retail industry is among Europe’s largest markets in terms of household spending. Going through radical and rapid changes, the industry now faces new direction and growth in line with initiatives towards digital transformation. The traditional channel has been started to replace by the so called “organized retail” channel that includes supermarkets, hypermarkets, and discounters. This channel has become widespread around the country in a short time.

In the past decade, the organized retail industry has delivered a strong growth performance pushed by the growth of discounters with new stores that are now the drivers of the industry. Price and proximity are the crucial factors behind the growth of discounters. Sellers in the traditional channel, namely grocery stores, dry food vendors, and kiosks, decline in number every year.

According to markets’ turnover growth in 2021, discounters are emerging as leaders of the industry. The organized retail industry grew by 29.3%* as of the end of 2021, driven by discounters. Delivering robust growth for the past few years, discounters have become the leader on the market in terms of the number of stores. Gaining market share from supermarkets under 400 m2 and the traditional channel on a yearly basis, discounters represent the format with the greatest contributions to market growth.

One of the fastest-growing market chains in the Turkish food retail industry, ŞOK Marketler achieved a 33.1%* growth as of the end of 2021. It is observed that in the same period discounter markets grew by 37.1%*, and supermarkets by 21.3%*.

* NIELSEN RETAIL PANEL - Growth data excluding alcohol-cigarettes.