Having had to spend this year’s Valentine’s Day under a lockdown, Turks searched for ways to celebrate love amid much heartache and isolation as the coronavirus pandemic stretched past its first anniversary.
The day generally evokes the idea of dinner and is one of the busiest days of the year for many eateries that have been ravaged by shutdowns designed to slow the spread of the virus and most locals have chosen digital orders, resulting in records for online shopping.
The country is currently imposing lockdowns on weekends and nighttime curfews on weekdays.
Sales of many goods doubled as customers mostly went after smartphones, laptops, tablets, personal care products, electronics and home appliances and filled in hotels, according to sector representatives.
Total spending has been estimated to have reached as much as TL 15 billion ($2.1 billion), according to a report in Turkish Sabah daily.
Online shopping has seen as much as an 80% rise compared with last year, according to Association of E-Commerce Operators (ETID) Chairperson Emre Ekmekçi.
“We expect Valentine’s Day shopping to bring around a 25%-30% increase in e-commerce traffic and turnover growth,” Ekmekçi said. “In February, we expect the overall e-commerce volume to reach TL 25 billion.”
Men’s passion for game consoles has manifested itself on this year’s Valentin’s Day sales, said MediaMarkt Chairperson Yenal Gökyıldırım.
“The PlayStation 5 that we put up for sale over mediamarkt.com on Feb.4 sold out in just 15 minutes,” Gökyıldırım noted. He also noted the skyrocketing increase in iPhone sales.
Gökyıldırım said MediaMarkt’s online sales were up 9.2% compared with last year, adding that customers also flocked to laptops, tablets, webcams, smartwatches, technological accessories, drones, electric scooters, personal care products and home appliances.
One of the leading e-commerce platforms in Turkey, GittiGidiyor has seen an over 70% year-on-year increase in sales, its Marketing Director Feyza Dereli Fedar said.
Fedar also reported that laptops, tablets, smartphones, home decoration goods, cameras and musical instruments were among the goods sold the most.
The home decoration category has seen a 43% year-on-year increase, she noted, adding that computer sales were up threefold and smartphones surged 82%.
