Technology has changed and transformed commercial life in every period. It would not be correct to limit this impact only to the period after the Industrial Revolution. In previous periods, technology and commerce have always been intertwined. From horse carriages to large sailing ships, from railways to containers, from cash registers to computers, every technological development, large or small, has left a mark on commercial life.

Today, we observe the most vivid example of this fact in the fields of e-commerce and its sub-branch, e-export. Technological developments such as the universalization of the Internet, the deepening of the application areas of artificial intelligence, and the more secure and accessible payment systems have made city and country borders in front of business life almost invisible. At the point we have reached today, e-commerce has turned into an ecosystem that covers every actor of the real sector, from large companies to neighborhood tradesmen.

E-commerce holds serious potential for Turkey, which has a young and technology-savvy population as well as a dynamic real sector. The fact that the e-commerce volume in Turkey has increased sixfold from 2019 to 2022 and that a considerable number of SMEs have entered global markets through the e-export channel after the coronavirus explains many things.

Aware of the transformative impact of e-commerce and e-export on the real sector, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Strategic Research Center published a detailed and data-based report on this subject. In the report, the steps taken by the real sector in terms of e-commerce in Istanbul, the motivational factors that bring companies closer to e-commerce, the problems they encounter in the process, the perspectives of businesses that are not keen on e-commerce, and their future expectations regarding e-commerce were examined. These topics were analyzed in detail with survey-based data.

According to the results of the report, creating new market areas and expanding the customer portfolio are the two most important motivational sources that direct companies to e-commerce. The biggest expectations of companies for the development of e-commerce are; The aim is to develop an audit mechanism to increase the importance of cyber security and to reduce the commission rates applied by e-commerce platforms.

Survey findings show that only 35.8 percent of companies engaged in e-commerce activities engage in e-export. 67.2 percent of exporting companies are engaged in e-export activities. The findings of the report point out that companies - especially SMEs - need to be more informed about e-export opportunities.

The closing section of the report includes 14 important policy recommendations to improve Turkey's e-commerce and e-export performance, based on comprehensive survey results as well as global trends and successful country examples. As a part of the team that wrote the report, I hope that the results of this study will contribute to the efficient, fair and inclusive development of the rapidly growing e-commerce ecosystem in Turkey.