From Istanbul, with love! Trendyol sets foot outside Turkey, opens Berlin hub to take on Europe's e-commerce game

Turkey’s first decacorn, valued at $16,5 billion after its 2021 funding round, will hire more than 200 employees in Berlin, to expand its business in Germany and rest of Europe
From Istanbul, with love! Trendyol sets foot outside Turkey, opens Berlin hub to take on Europe's e-commerce game

After testing waters in its home turf, Alibaba and Softbank-backed Turkish e-commerce company and decacorn Trendyol is now making inroads in Europe. And its first pitstop is Germany.

According to the company, its mobile app has been downloaded close to one million times in Germany. Web analytics company Similar Web ranked Trendyol as Germany’s second-fastest growing fashion platform in February 2022. The platform had raised a massive $1.5 billion in funding last August, which made it the country's first decacorn, valued at $16.5 billion.

The company’s business in Germany is scaling fast and is already expected to generate more than €400 million by the end of the year. By 2025, Trendyol expects to increase its business volume in Germany to over €3 billion. Thus, it seems the move to open its first office outside of Turkey in Berlin, might fuel its ambitious expansion plans in the continent.

Talking about why Germany is a significant market for the firm, Çağlayan Çetin, president of the Trendyol group said: “Our presence in Germany marks the start of our planned pan-European rollout. The Berlin office will enable us to further grow our presence in the German market. Trendyol is investing in warehouses and fulfilment centres in Eastern Europe to more efficiently serve our customers in Germany. Over the next two years, 65,000 square meters of warehouse space in Europe will be made available to support expansion into local markets.”

Çetin, however, declined to comment on the company’s plans regarding a dual-listing initial public offering (IPO) in New York or London.

Post its German entry, the company has planned the rollout of Amsterdam and Luxembourg offices later in the year and its entry into London in 2023. By the end of the year, the e-commerce player will hire more than 200 employees in Berlin, to expand its business in Germany and the rest of Europe.

Shibu Tharakan, managing director of international added: “We have curated our product offerings to mirror our customers’ needs in Germany. Our aim is to ensure that our German customers get the latest in fashion coupled with customer and delivery experience, which will drive our success in Germany and beyond. Our office in Berlin is a start to an ambitious plan to expand our European footprint.”

Founded in Istanbul in 2010, the company has more than 30 million customers and over 260,000 sellers on the platform. It claims to deliver more than one million packages daily.

Lead image: MUHITTIN tuyluce

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