The FINANCIAL — Promotional campaigns failed to revive demand in Turkey's mobile phone market during the first quarter of the year as a decline in sales resulting from increasing frugality continued amid the ongoing global financial crisis, a survey by GfK Turkey has found.
According to GfK's assessment of the mobile phone market for the first quarter, sales dropped by 20 percent in terms of number of devices sold and 41 percent in total revenue compared to the same period last year.
This continues the declining trend seen in 2008, when mobile phone sales for the year fell by 7 percent in number of devices sold and 21 percent in total revenue compared to 2007.
According to GfK, the share of Chinese products in the domestic market increased in the first quarter of the year. Minor brands, most of which were made by Chinese mobile device producers, made up one-tenth of total sales.
"GfK reported that an important change in the mobile phone market was witnessed in terms of sales channels. Previously, conventional telecommunications stores dominated the market with 80 percent of total sales, but their prominence began to wane in the second half of 2008. In the first quarter of this year, the share of devices sold in these stores fell to 77 percent as large electronics retailers and chain stores drew consumers away from the small-scale telecommunications stores scattered throughout Turkey. Their share of total revenue sustained a larger drop, from nearly 80 percent to 74 percent, in the first quarter," Today's Zaman says.
Even though the market as a whole shrank by 20 percent, large electronics retail chains increased their mobile phone sales by 7.5 percent.
The report also noted that consumers have started to demand phones compatible with third generation (3G) mobile communications standards. Turkey's mobile phone operators will finally begin to offer 3G service to their customers by the end of July after a long and thorny tender process.
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