With China opening up its market for foreign retail, Turkey’s famous retailers are being encouraged to head East.
“Let us invest in China together if you want. You have the power for this,” Multi Turkmall Chairman Hans Otto Nagel told an audience at the Retail Days ’07 which began in Istanbul Wednesday, Turkish media reports said.
He said Turkey had always been successful in retailing and it has a great historical experience from the old bazaar.
Nagel emphasized that innovation was very important in the contemporary retailing sector and the crucial point was to serve customers beyond their expectations. “You can only succeed by offering more than their expectations,” he said.
Nagel said the shopping mall concept has changed over time and that now it is debated whether shopping centers are for shopping or for entertainment.
Media Saturn CEO Roland Weise said Turkey was one of the fastest growing markets and that Media Saturn was aiming to establish a retail chain all across Turkey, noting that they had launched their first Media Market store in İstanbul in September and two more in Eskişehir and Mersin since then. Weise said their business strategy was being the leader in pricing and offering the widest product range.
Calvin Klein Europe and Asia Director Gaetano Sallorenzo said the luxury market in Turkey was growing rapidly and $500 million had been spent on luxury products this year.
He said they were expecting that $1 billion worth luxury products will be sold annually in Turkey in the coming years.
Sallorenzo said their company’s global annual turnover exceeds $6 billion in a wide range of clothing and accessories and pointed out they receive 30 percent of their production from Turkey.
He said there was also a great appetite for luxury consumption in India, Russia and China but that there is a lack of classy streets and shopping malls there, unlike Turkey.
Sallorenzo said there was a debate nowadays whether Turkey could become like France or Italy in textile and fashion. He added such a trend was visible in Turkey over the last 10 years.
