Postcard from Turkey

This was the fifth time that we went on holiday to the Turkish seaside. What we saw was that the 8-percent annual growth of the economy also manifests in the building of modern retail units. It is especially true for the capital city but the trend is visible in the country as well. Open-air markets are also frequent in the otherwise clean and tidy, well-organised small towns, where usually a high street also welcomes visitors.

The number of SMEs is growing and these enterprises are often family ventures, where even small children learn about the trade after school. Bargaining is practically compulsory in shops – but pay attention to aim for a win-win situation. In Turkey the fake version of every trendy fashion item (handbags, T-shirts, etc.) can be bought, but these copies are not poor at all, in the sense that they are made from quality material. We could call these products ‘Turkish private labels’ – they just borrow the brand names and designs. These products are not sold at open-air markets but in modern, sophisticated shops and they are not very cheap. Product-packaging-marketing communication: they are the result of conscious work. Next year we will visit Turkey again, hoping that the country’s development will be uninterrupted and our hosts will keep smiling when we return.