Trendyol is an e-commerce platform based in Turkey, with its headquarters in Istanbul. Trendyol operates in Trendyol group structure.[2] The company was founded in 2010[3] by Demet Mutlu. In 2018, the Chinese company Alibaba Group became the company's largest shareholder, holding 86.5% of shares.[4] Trendyol is a private company, operating in the fashion and retail sector in e-commerce area.

Trendyol
IndustryE-commerce
Founded2010
FounderDemet Mutlu
Headquarters,
OwnerAlibaba Group 86,5%

Demet Mutlu 6,96%
Evren Üçok 5,55%
Begüm Tekin 0,78%

Zeki Güçlü Kaya 0,21%[1]
Websitewww.trendyol.com Edit this at Wikidata

In August 2021, Trendyol entered into agreements to raise $1.5 billion from a number of investors, valuing the company at $16.5 billion. With the new funding, Trendyol became Turkey’s first decacorn (a start-up with a valuation of over $10 billion).[5] The round was co-led by General Atlantic, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Princeville Capital and sovereign wealth funds, ADQ (UAE) and Qatar Investment Authority.[6]

In December 2022, Trendyol launched an unsuccessful $1.24 billion takeover bid of British fashion e-commerce platform, ASOS.[7] On 12 July 2023, Trendyol took over sponsorship of the Süper Lig and TFF First League football leagues from Spor Toto, by paying ₺700.000.000.[8]

Sale to Alibaba Group

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The Chinese company Alibaba Group became a partner of Trendyol in 2018 for $728 million.[9] Alibaba Group invested another $350 million in Trendyol's capital increases in 2018 and 2020, increasing its partnership share to 86.5%.[4]

Allegations and penalties

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Algorithm manipulation

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In 2021, the Competition Authority opened an investigation against Trendyol for highlighting certain sellers and products by manipulating their algorithms. In the investigation concluded in 2023, the company was fined 61 million Turkish Liras.[10][11][12]

Bribery allegations

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After the E-Commerce Law was published in the Official Gazette of Turkey Republic in 2022,[13] Trendyol was accused of paying unregistered money to Cumhuriyet Newspaper in exchange for negative press against the law.[14] This accusation was not accepted by the newspaper.[15] Cumhuriyet Newspaper Foundation filed a criminal complaint against the officials of the period, alleging that they "received unregistered money" in exchange for manipulative news against the e-commerce law that came into force in January 2023.[14]

Products

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Trendyol's main product categories include men and women's fashion, shoes and bags, accessories and watches, children's products, cosmetics, electronics, books, hobby and lifestyle, sports and outdoor, and electronics.[16]

Group companies

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Trendyol Tech

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The platform was approved as a research and development centre in 2019 by the Ministry of Industry and Technology.[17] Trendyol Tech specialises in the following: native language processing; real-time data analysis; machine learning; deep learning; image processing; data visualisation; text simulation and big data.[18]

Dolap

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Dolap was founded in 2016 as a second-hand product trading platform and acquired by Trendyol in 2018.[18] 1.4 million individual sellers are currently active on Dolap.

Trendyol Express

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Founded as a delivery network in 2018.[19]

Trendyol Go

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Trendyol Go is Trendyol's food and grocery delivery service.[20]

Investors

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Founded with an initial capital of 300 thousand USD, Trendyol received investment from Tiger Global and Kleiner Perkins in 2010–11 and EBRD in 2014.[21] Alibaba Group became a shareholder of Trendyol in 2018. Following the investment made by Alibaba, Tiger Global, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, and EBRD were withdrawn. Alibaba became a shareholder of the company by acquiring the shares of 3 international shareholders in Trendyol.[22] In August 2021, Trendyol had entered into agreements to raise $1.5 billion from a number of high-profile investors, valuing the company at $16.5 billion. The round was co-led by General Atlantic, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, as well as Princeville Capital and sovereign wealth funds, ADQ (UAE) and the Qatar Investment Authority, the company said in a statement. Thus, while Trendyol's valuation increased to 16.5 billion dollars, the company was upgraded to the 'decacorn' category, which is used for companies with a valuation exceeding 10 billion dollars.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Arşivlenmiş kopya". Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Trendyol'un Mega Eylül kampanyası başlıyor". sonhaberler.com. July 9, 2020.
  3. ^ "Trendyol'un kurucusu, 'Genç Küresel Lider' seçildi". Milliyet. 23 March 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Alibaba Trendyol'a 350 milyon dolar yatırım yaptı". BloombergHT (in Turkish). 2021-04-21. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  5. ^ "E-commerce giant Trendyol becomes Turkey's 1st 'decacorn'". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  6. ^ "SoftBank investment in Trendyol creates Turkey's first decacorn".
  7. ^ Faithfull, Mark. "The Billion Dollar Asos Question As Shareholders Hope Bid Lifts Stock". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  8. ^ "Süper Lig ve 1. Lig'in İsim Sponsoru Trendyol Oldu". tff.org (in Turkish). Turkish Football Federation. 12 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Alibaba'ya Satılan Trendyol, 728 Milyon Dolarlık Satış Fiyatıyla Rekor Kırdı". Haberler (in Turkish). 2018-08-03. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  10. ^ "DSM Grup Danışmanlık İletişim ve Satış Ticaret AŞ hakkında Yürütülen Soruşturmaya İlişkin Nihai Kararın 4054 sayılı Rekabetin Korunması Hakkında Kanun'un 49. Maddesi Uyarınca Açıklanması" [Announcement of the Final Decision Regarding the Investigation Conducted on DSM Group Consultancy Communication and Sales Trade Inc. in Accordance with Article 49 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition] (PDF) (in Turkish).
  11. ^ "Rekabet Kurumu DSM Sonuçları". 12 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  12. ^ "Rekabet Kurumu'ndan Trendyol'a ceza". BloombergHT (in Turkish). 27 July 2023. Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  13. ^ "ELEKTRONİK TİCARET ARACI HİZMET SAĞLAYICI VE ELEKTRONİK TİCARET HİZMET SAĞLAYICILAR HAKKINDA YÖNETMELİK". www.resmigazete.gov.tr. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Cumhuriyet Vakfı'ndan Cumhuriyet gazetesi yönetimine suç duyurusu: Çikolata kutusunda gelen paralar karşılığında kasıtlı haberler yapıldı!". T24 (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  15. ^ ""Para karşılığı manipülatif haber" iddiasında Cumhuriyet gazetesi ile Genel Yayın Yönetmeni'nden farklı tonda açıklamalar". T24 (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  16. ^ "Trendyol: One Stop Fashion Shop". www.trendyol.com.
  17. ^ "Trendyol'dan Ar-Ge'ye 45 milyon TL'lik yatırım". Sabah.
  18. ^ a b "Hande İzmirlioğlu: 1 milyar doları yakalarız". 30 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Kotayı böyle aştılar". 21 June 2020.
  20. ^ "Who We Are". www.trendyol.com. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  21. ^ "Trendyol". Archived from the original on 2022-12-12.
  22. ^ "Alibaba'nın Trendyol yatırımı ile hangi yatırımcılar çıkış yaptı?". 29 June 2018.
  23. ^ "Trendyol received new investment, its valuation was 16.5 billion dollars – Market Agenda". 9 August 2021.
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