Snowstorms and blizzards during the past week brought daily life close to a halt in most of Turkey, including the megacity of İstanbul. Inclement weather caused inter-city motorways and country roads to close as well as the cancellation of ferry service and many flights in İstanbul and most of Anatolia. Some online stores saw their sales double in one week, while others were excited to see increases as high as 150 percent in business.
The online retail store www.tummarketler.com was one of them. The manager of the site, which has 40 retail chains across Turkey, Sebahattin Gündoğdu, said in a written statement on Saturday they enjoyed a 150 percent increase in orders via their site last week. “People ordered food in particular during the heavy snowfall. The number of food orders increased to 2,000 per day last week from the 500 made previously,” he explained. Among the most popular orders were also electric heaters, cleaning supplies and tire chains along with scarves and gloves. Gündoğdu said the retailers had to increase their number of personnel and used much of their inventory to meet the increased demand.
Director of the board of Turkish online retail store 1V1Y.COM Abdullah Kiğılı said their business doubled during the heavy snow. “When we compare last week’s sales to previous weeks, orders jumped noticeably, and we have enjoyed the increase in turnover,” he noted. According to Kiğılı, his site’s sales doubled when the snow hit last week. The snow took its toll on daily life late last Sunday. It, however, ended on Thursday, with temperatures rising by 6-8 degrees Celsius across the country over the weekend.
