Trendyol

Nine dimensions merchants should review before joining:

Merchant snapshot

Turkey's #1, fashion-led super app (majority-owned by Alibaba); best for brand sellers leveraging Chinese supply chains to enter Turkey/GCC, who must handle lira depreciation and the GCC overseas-warehouse + VAT hard requirements.

Entry requirements

Turkey local site: must be a Turkish tax-registered company (sole proprietorship/limited company/joint-stock company all accepted; individual sellers are not allowed); the tax number is auto-verified against business records via the MERSİS system, and a KEP-registered email, IBAN and e-invoice are additionally required. Opening a store is free (demresa 2025 guide). Gulf sites (Saudi/UAE, opened to Chinese sellers in 2024): mainland business license (sole proprietorships not yet supported) + the corresponding site's VAT tax number (Saudi 15%, UAE 5%) + mandatory local third-party overseas warehouse (domestic direct mail not supported) + business Payoneer for collections. Saudi/UAE are separate accounts whose contact details cannot be reused. Platform review takes 2–3 business days; from preparation to store opening about 4–5 weeks (Chuhaiwang 2026).

Fee structure

Store opening is free; category commission is charged on completed orders (2025, demresa): electronics 5%–28%, fashion/apparel ~21%–23% (apparel 21.5%, shoes/bags 21.5%–23.5%, accessories ~22%), beauty & personal care ~15%–18%, books 14%–22%, mother & baby 3.5%–18% (diapers/baby food can be below 5%). Commission and VAT are auto-deducted after order delivery; remittance varies by category from 7–28 days. GCC new-site promotion: new stores that list new products within 7 days get 2 months of commission at 20% off plus a small ad subsidy (Chuhaiwang; secondary). Specifics per the official fee schedule.

Getting traffic

~40% share of Turkish e-commerce [secondary estimate], 35M+ active users in 2023, 250K+ sellers and 170M+ product SKUs, delivering to 100+ countries in the Middle East/Europe (demresa). Strong fashion-category mindshare and a complete super-app ecosystem (including the secondhand platform Dolap). Chinese merchants are under 10% of GCC-site sellers (Chuhaiwang; secondary), so competition is markedly lower than Noon/Amazon; on-site search SEO + platform campaigns are the main organic-traffic drivers, with social/short-video seeding recommended as an addition.

Fulfilment & logistics

In-house Trendyol Express e-commerce logistics and GO same-city delivery (in Dec 2025 Alibaba sold 85% of GO to Uber for about ¥5 billion; another account puts the gain at ~¥6 billion). The Gulf sites have no official in-house warehouse — third-party overseas-warehouse fulfillment is mandatory, with Aramex as the default logistics channel (Chuhaiwang). The Turkish local site supports local warehousing and delivery; sellers bear returns/exchanges and inventory-tier management.

Payments & settlement

The Turkey site settles in lira (received via IBAN), with remittance 7–28 days by category after delivery confirmation. The GCC sites only support business Payoneer, allowing conversion and withdrawal into RMB (Chuhaiwang). Turkish lira depreciation and high inflation erode settlement value and purchasing power; cross-border sellers should watch currency exposure.

Compliance

Turkey: company entity + tax number (auto-verified via MERSİS), e-invoice, KEP. GCC sites: Saudi VAT 15%, UAE 5%; the full company name on the VAT certificate must match the business license character for character; beauty/electronics need compliance certifications such as ESMA and SFDA; Saudi/UAE religious and prohibited-item lists are strict (Chuhaiwang). Sole proprietorships cannot enter the GCC sites.

Key risks

Turkish lira depreciation and high inflation erode purchasing power and cross-border settlement value (total-market figures also conflict: $115.4B vs €86B, etc.). Alibaba "slimming down": the Dec 2025 sale of 85% of Trendyol GO (buyer Uber) shows the group's investment focus shifting, leaving long-term ammunition and synergies uncertain. Local competition includes Hepsiburada, Amazon TR and N11, and Temu/SHEIN entering Turkey squeezes the low-price segment. Core figures ($14B / ~40% share) are secondary estimates of unclear vintage; GMV/financials are not disclosed separately. The GCC sites compete directly with Noon/Amazon.

Best-fit sellers

Best suited to fashion/apparel/home/3C-accessory brand sellers with Alibaba-linked Chinese supply-chain advantages, who can scale on Turkey's ~20% e-commerce penetration or the GCC expansion window (peak seasons such as Ramadan). Not suited to listing-spray sellers without overseas-warehouse and VAT preparation (the GCC hard requirements), or sellers that depend on USD settlement or cannot bear lira volatility.

Sources

research/sections/mea_platforms.md; 各地区电商平台Top5深度研究报告.md 第10章 (Chinese report, Chapter 10); research/research_top5_ecommerce_latam_mea.md; https://demresa.com/en/blog/store-opening-and-selling-process-on-trendyol-2025-guide; https://m.chwang.com/ask/208491718726; https://abc.az/en/news/201868; https://fund.eastmoney.com/a/202512043582459544.html; https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/amp/turkiyes-e-commerce-volume-surges-52-percent-in-2025-222063; https://www.gccbusinessnews.com/alshaya-group-trendyol-partnership/

Trendyol appears in the Top-5 lists of 1 regions: MEA.

• Middle East & Africa（#5）：Turkey #1, fashion-led super app; expanding into Saudi Arabia/UAE/Eastern Europe; Alibaba sold 85% of Trendyol GO in Dec 2025 (~¥5B)

Every figure is taken from that region’s Top-5 report and source audit. No cross-region conversion or new estimates: