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Big Opportunities in Turkey’s Digital Economy
CNBC.com | August 16, 2012 | 10:59 AM EDT

A dramatic characteristic of the Turkish market is how connected it is. The Turkish Investment Agency estimates 50 million Internet users. With 32 million users, Turkey ranks as the seventh country on Facebook. The aggregate attention on digital media is immense.

However, this is in deep contrast to the commercialization of this connected community. My firm estimates the number of people who have ever completed a commercial transaction online in Turkey is around 5 million, a mere 10 percent of the Internet users.Therefore, one of the key explosions will be in e-commerce. We have started seeing the first signs of this with extreme-growth e-commerce startups like Trendyol, Markafoni and Grupanya, which already have millions of dollars in monthly revenues. Bolstered by a very strong payments system (51 million credit card holders according to the Turkish Interbank Card Center) and an effective logistics infrastructure, the wave of pure online e-commerce companies and e-commerce arms of brick and mortar players are here.

Another key area to grow is digital content. Historically, content has been tough to monetize effectively in Turkey. However, we are starting to see improvements, through micro payment service providers and effective ad networks.

[MORE ON CNBC.COM: Investing in Europe’s Fastest-Growing Economy ]

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