Supermarkets and Groceries in Turkey
Author : isturkeysafe
12/1/2018
Last Update : 3/5/2019
If you plan to stay for a while in Turkey, one of the important issues you need to know about is supermarkets and grocery stores. While walking down the street in Turkey, you will see so many supermarkets and grocery stores on the way. So, which one should you shop from, which market sells the product you want? Which market is working with discount model, which market serves to high-end customers? Below you can find information of some biggest chain supermarkets in Turkey.
A101 SUPERMARKETS IN TURKEY
| Web Site of A101 Supermarkets | https://a101.com.tr (Only in Turkish) |
| Owner of A101 Supermarkets | Turgut Aydın HOLDING is the owner of A101 supermarkets. A101 is not traded on Turkish stock market. |
| Working Model of A101 Supermarkets | Working with hard-discount model. In order to decrease the costs, it serves with small supermarkets and a small number of staff(usually most of 5 employees per store). |
| History and Today of A101 Supermarkets | In March 2013, it entered the discount retail market with 121 supermarkets. In 2018, they have nearly 7000 supermarkets in all cities of Turkey. |
| A101 Online Shopping | They have a web store, https://online.a101.com.tr . Some products sold in A101 supermarkets can also be purchased from the internet store (not all products are sold online) |
| Alcoholic Beverages in A101 Supermarkets | Alcoholic beverages are not sold at A101 supermarkets. |
| What is sold at A101 Supermarkets? | Variety of food and cleaning supplies are sold. Plus some special products are sold in weekly basis. Over 1000 different products sold at A101; approximately half of them are private label where the remaining half are branded products. |
| Notes about A101 supermarkets | Besides A101 Supermarkets, Turgut Aydın HOLDING has also weighted shares of Memorial Hospitals, one of the Turkey's largest hospital groups . Also in the home textiles sector, English Home, one of Turkey's largest chain stores, also belongs to this holding. |
BIM SUPERMARKETS IN TURKEY
| Web Site of BIM Supermarkets | bim.com.tr |
| Owner of BIM Supermarkets | More than 70% of the shares are open to Turkish stock market (BIST). The remaining shares are owned by various food and investment companies. bim.com.tr/shareholders |
| Working Model of BIM Supermarkets | Working with hard-discount model. In order to decrease the costs, it serves with small supermarkets and a small number of staff(usually most of 5 employees per store). About 700 different types of products are sold. In order to reduce the cost, some products are sold on pallets without being removed from the boxes. They sell private label products which have similar quality as the leading branded products. |
| History and Today of BIM Supermarkets | Started in 1995 with 21 supermarkets. In 2018, it reached over 6000 supermarkets in total. In addition, nearly 400 BIM markets are opened in Morocco. Also in Egypt, there are about 300 BIM markets. Their 2017 total revenue is about 5B$. |
| BIM Online Shopping | BIM offers no online store, all sales are made by supermarkets all over Turkey. |
| Alcoholic Beverages in BIM Supermarkets | Alcoholic beverages are not sold at BIM Supermarkets. |
| What is sold at BIM Supermarkets? | Variety of food and cleaning supplies are sold. Plus some special products are sold in weekly basis. Most of the products sold are private label products. |
| Notes about BIM Supermarkets | There are about 700 products that are sold on a continuous basis. Also, there are time-limited offers on some special (10-20) products. These products change every week. It may be snow chain for your car for a week, then a 4k TV curved next week. These products, which are sold with big discounts, named as 'BIM ACTUAL PRODUCTS'. Current “BIM ACTUAL PRODUCTS” and prices can be found at the following link.bim.com.tr/aktuel-urunler |
MIGROS SUPERMARKETS IN TURKEY
| Web Site of MIGROS Supermarkets | https://www.migros kurumsal.com/en/ |
| Owner of MIGROS Supermarkets | The main share of MIGROS markets belongs to the YAZICILAR HOLDING. The remaining shares are owned by various food and investment companies. Shares are also open to Turkish stock market (BIST). |
| Working Model of MIGROS Supermarkets | Migros is a supermarket serving the high-end customers in Turkey. It carries out its operations with the aim of being in high quality rather than being cheap. When compared to Turkey's most popular discount supermarkets (A101, BIM, SOK), MIGROS is generally more expensive. On the other hand, there are better quality products at MIGROS. For example, organic products are not sold in hard-discount markets, while many organic products are sold in MIGROS. Unlike discount markets, MIGROS usually serves in large supermarkets with a large number of employees. |
| History and Today of MIGROS Supermarkets | In 1954, Istanbul Municipality decided to establish an organization similar to Switzerland Migros in Turkey. Migros started selling with mobile sales trucks. Migros introduced the first hygienic packaging, first label and shelf life applications to Turkish consumers for the first time. In 1975, Koc Holding one of the Turkey's most important group, took over the majority shares of Migros. In 2018, MIGROS serves with approximately 2000 supermarkets. |
| MIGROS Online Shopping | Migros is the owner of the first online supermarket in Turkey. https://sanalmarket.com Every product sold in the market is also sold in the online store. By selecting the delivery time, you can ensure that Migros employees leave the products you buy online to your home. You can also check the prices of the products in the Migros online store. For legal reasons, there is no sale of alcoholic beverages at Migros internet store. In general, the sale of alcoholic beverages on internet is prohibited by law in Turkey. |
| Alcoholic Beverages in MIGROS Supermarkets | Many types of alcoholic drinks can be found in MIGROS Supermarkets. |
| What is sold at MIGROS Supermarkets? | MIGROS serves its customers on various categories such as cosmetics, glassware, electronics, books and textiles as well as food and cleaning products. |
| Notes about MIGROS Supermarkets | Migros uses M letters to categorize its supermarkets. The smallest of the supermarkets (M-JET) is at a discount market size while the largest (5M) is at the size of a shopping mall. The categories and total number of supermarkets are given below.
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SOK SUPERMARKETS IN TURKEY
| Web Site of SOK Supermarkets | https://sokmarket.com |
| Owner of SOK Supermarkets | More than 35% of the shares are open to Turkish stock market (BIST). The remaining shares are owned by various food and investment companies. |
| Working Model of SOK Supermarkets | Working with hard-discount model. In order to decrease the costs, it serves with small supermarkets and a small number of staff(usually most of 5 employees per store). |
| History and Today of SOK Supermarkets | Sok began its operations with 13 supermarkets. At 2018, they reached over 6200 supermarkets at 81 provinces in Turkey. Their 2017 total revenue is about 1,5B$. |
| SOK Online Shopping | They have a web store . All products sold in Sok supermarkets can also be purchased from the internet store. There is a 'store' delivery option on online shopping. Prices and all products sold at the address below. https://ceptesok.com/. They have also mobile applications on Android and IOS. |
| Alcoholic Beverages in SOK Supermarkets | Alcoholic beverages are not sold at SOK Supermarkets. |
| What is sold at SOK Supermarkets? | Variety of food and cleaning supplies are sold. Plus some special products are sold in weekly basis(Named as 'Weekly Deals'. https://sokmarket.com.tr/ our-weekly-deals |
| Notes about SOK Supermarkets | Besides private label and branded products, they enlivened some old Turkish brands such as Mis, Piyale, Mintax, Evin, and Amigo. |
