Everyone is on the road

Coca-Cola İçecek has chosen Elazığ for its latest plant, Algida has opted for Konya. In the last five years, Migros has opened 230 supermarkets in Anatolia. Within the same timeframe, Kiğili, Aydınlı, Mudo, İpekyol and Damat have opened 230 stores in Anatolia. Chains of private schools and private hospitals are spreading across Anatolia. The tourism industry is preparing to invest $3.5 billion in hotels. In short, Anatolia’s share in every sector is rising. Investments are shifting to Anatolia. Here are all the details of the rise of Anatolia.

MASSIVE INVESTMENT DRIVE
Those who are investing in Anatolia include both medium-sized players and multinationals and large holdings. When one looks at the situation from a sectoral perspective, then energy investments in particular come to the fore. For example, Anadolu Holding has an energy investment in Sinop Gerze, while Saran Holding has energy investments in Bursa, Erzurum, Mersin and Tunceli, Coca Cola İçecek took the costs of transporting products into consideration in opening its latest plant in Elazığ. Algida, Unilever’s leading ice-cream brand, chose Konya for its most recent investment. Algida Marketing Director Özgür Kölükfakı says: “The logistical advantages resulting from the ease of procuring raw materials and the economic development of the region played a role in us opting for Konya. The other important factors were the high quality workforce, the industrial infrastructure and the low earthquake risk.” Taşyapı, which is well-known in the construction sector, is preparing to make industrial investments in Anatolia. Taşyapı Board Chair Emrullah Turanlı says: “60 percent of Anatolia is suitable for industrial investments. We have developed $100 million of financing for tourism and energy.”

RETAILING'S NEW PATH
In fact, it was the retail sector which was the first to discover Anatolia’s potential. In the last five years there has been an increase in the number of companies opening stores in Anatolia in every branch of retailing. Outside the three metropolises of Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, Migros has 417 stores in Anatolia, of which 230 have been opened in the last five years. Migros General Manager Özgür Tort explains their main approach as follows: “The population growth in the provinces of Anatolia over the last ten years, the increasing industrialization and the investment figures and the new residential areas that have arisen in parallel to these developments caught our attention and were influential in attracting us to these regions.” For this reason, 60 percent of the new stores that Migros will open by 2016 will be in Anatolia. In the same way, over the last five years, Carrefoursa has invested in more than 60 new stores in provinces outside the main cities.~
Mehmet Nane, general manager of Teknosa, which has 280 stores in 75 provinces, says that half of their turnover comes from Anatolian stores outside Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir and predicts that this figure will develop in favour of Anatolia in the future.

STUNNING REGIONAL DEMAND
Anatolia offers a new growth area for clothing retailing. It has reached such a point that many companies say that their sales in Anatolia have exceeded expectations. For example, Hilal Suerdem, CEO of Kiğılı, which
has opened 90 stores in Anatolia since 2007, says: “Sales rise significantly in Anatolia during the religious holidays in particular. For example, our branches in Gaziantep and Van are very important.” Kiğılı sources 65 percent of its turnover from the provinces of Anatolia and estimates that this share will rise to 70 percent with the 110 new stores it plans to open over the next five years. İpekyol Board Chair Yalçın Ayaydın says that their stores in Adana, Gaziantep, Trabzon and Kayseri go head to head with those in the big cities and adds: “55 percent of our turnover comes from outside Istanbul. This rate will rise to 60 percent within five years.” Mudo General Manager Barış Karakullukçu says that they have begun to receive positive results from the Black Sea region from the investments that they have focused on over the last 2-3 years in particular.

29 PROVINCES STILL WITHOUT SHOPPING MALLS
This development in retailing in Anatolia is progressing in parallel to new shopping mall projects. Today, there are 102 shopping malls in Istanbul. In Anatolia the number has risen to 207. Hakan Kodal, the president of the Shopping Mall Investors’ Association (AYD) says: “Most of the growth in our sector continues to be in Anatolia. There are shopping malls in 52 of the 81 provinces in the country. Today they reach 83 percent of the total population. This coverage will increase and we shall even see shopping malls in small provinces.” Hulusi Belgü is CEO of Multi Development Türkiye, 80 percent of whose investments are in Anatolia. “Anatolia is only now acquiring the habit of going shopping in shopping malls but the pace of change is very quick. If we look at the data for the last three years we see that turnover per square meter has risen by 55 percent from TL 315 to TL 547. Last year, the volume of expenditure was equal to Istanbul and Ankara. Anatolia’s share has risen considerably this year and will continue to increase,” he says.~
The AYD expects another 20 shopping malls to open in Anatolia by the end of 2013. These projects will be in Batman, Çanakkale, Çorum, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Kütahya, Muğla, Niğde, Siirt and Tekirdağ.

THE SHIFT OUTSIDE ISTANBUL
Anatolia’s share in housing is increasing. According to statistics from sahibinden.com, 720 of the brand name housing projects in Turkey are in Anatolia. Eroğlu has new projects in Bursa, Sinpaş in Gaziantep and Mesa in Izmir. Many companies whose names have become associated with Istanbul are turning to Anatolia. For example, Engin Yeşil, the board chair of the Yeşil Companies Group, which includes Yeşil GYO, says that, after the Innovia Körfez Villas that they will build on the Gulf of Izmir, they will increase their investments in Anatolia. Engin Yeşil lists their target provinces as Edirne, Silivri, Çanakkale, Adana, Ankara, Gaziantep, İskenderun, Kayseri and Konya. GYODER President Işık Gökkaya draws attention to the recent significant rise in the housing projects that have been built in İzmir, Ankara, Bursa, Kocaeli, Antalya and Gaziantep. Gökkaya says: “In the future, the provinces with a high need for housing will be headed by Bursa, Antalya, Kocaeli, Tekirdağ, Muğla, Kayseri,
Yalova, Eskişehir, Balıkesir, Denizli, Manisa and Kahramanmaraş.”