We Shall Make Our Mark Everywhere

The Boydak group of Kayseri, which has made its mark through brands such as İstikbal, Bellona and Hes Kablo, increased its turnover by 63 percent last year to US$1.2 billion. Hacı Boydak, the group’s board chairman, describes their future goal as “becoming an international force in the region”. He says that the completion of new investments in furniture will mean produce a boom in the second half of 2006.

Boydak Holding has been a member of the Turkish business community for 47 years. It its history can be divided into three important phases. The first phase covers the transition from starting out with a workshop and moving on to manufacturing. The second phase comprises its evolution from regional production to a national presence. During this phase the group created national brands such as İstikbal, Bellona and Hes Kablo.

In the last few years the group has entered the third phase. This comprises making the transition from being a national player to a global power. This requires becoming a global player in terms of the scale of its new targets, turnover and brands. With this in mind, the group is trying to expand to dimensions commensurate with its new target. In addition to investments in increasing capacity, the group is continuing work on building four new factories. These investments will be completed by the second half of 2006 at the latest. In Hacı Boydak’s words, the group will boom in 2006

In terms of branding, they are planning to open around 300 stores across the world by 2010. Group Chairman Hacı Boydak says: We shall plant the İstikbal and Bellona flags across the entire world”. Hacı Boydak says that they have formulated growth plans based on creating greater depth in the areas in which they are already active, that they are continuing work on keeping pace with the changing face of retailing and that their stores will sell everything required for the home.

Boydak Holding Board Chairman Hacı Boydak answered our questions about the group and the future of the furniture sector:

It has been said that 2005 will be a difficult year. How have the first six months been?

The period starting in October last year and continuing through to the first quarter of this year was a little difficult for us. There was no growth in demand. But we do not see this as a recession. We think things have settled down. At one time companies were merely meeting demand in Turkey. Then that there was a shift to a more competitive era. In the economy we entered an era in which a significant proportion of demand had already been met. Profit margins fell, competition increased and globalization continued. We have to understand that this is how things will be in the economy from now on. Even though the first quarter of the year was difficult we are planning to close out 2005 in line with our annual plans.

You want to be a global brand. How will you reach this goal?

We are trying to prepare ourselves for international competition in the sectors in which we are active and organize our volumes accordingly. We want to be a company on a global scale in both turnover and branding. These two go together. We shall have around 300 large showrooms or home concept stores throughout the world by 2010. These will be stores which sell everything needed in the home under a single roof. Our furniture group is exporting to more than 50 countries throughout the world. But our priority targets are neighboring countries. We have opened stores in countries such a Greece, Iran, Germany and the USA.

EBRU FIRAT
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