It is safe to say that the Scandinavian brands are viewed as high quality products in the mind of the turkish consumer , i do agree in many cases,but still this is subjective and this is also due to good branding management and lots of investment into product quality control and long term strategic brand building efforts with a huge amount of long term investment.
This is not done overnight and these efforts have been ongoing for many years. The Turkish consumer has a lot of trust in Scandinavien products , sometimes it is even exaggerated , Turkish parents perceive Lego almost as an educational tool.
Turkiye is a very big car loving nation in Istanbul alone there are 3.6 million cars registered, the biggest beneficiary is the German brands without a doubt , still the Volvo brand is in very high regard and is promoted as a Swedish brand even though it is Chinese owned.
Norwegian fish products are very well known. This perceived consumer perception is very advantageous for Scandinavian brands.
The most recent Scandinavian brand to jump on the Turkish bandwagon is Jysk,they are opening several big stores in a very short time and promise to open many more. They have partnered up with Karaca, another local home decor chain with a strong brand and many stores. Interesting how 2 chainz link up together , one would have thought they were natural enemies and competitors , Jysk infringen on Karaca territory , but obviously i don’t know the background of the ownership or the details of the partnership between Karaca and Jysk so I can only speculate.
Interestingly Jysk concour mission of the Turkish market is directed from the Franchize owner of the market in Bulgaria and Romania. I have my doubts regarding how successful Jysk can be in Turkiye, because it looks like they haven’t changed anything in their concept regarding entering the Turkish market, firstly there is a huge competition in this sector in Turkiye, much more so than many other European markets. The Turkish consumer is very interested in new brands from abroad and as mentioned Scandinavian brands always start in an advantageous position, but the Turkish consumer also loses interest very fast. Jysk needs to keep the attention of the consumer and stay interesting and differentiate itself from others. Time will tell if they can.
Another very recent brand jumping into the market is the Danish Tiger of Copenhagen chain store selling everything from toothbrushes to whatever you can put on a store shelf. They have also partnered up with local store chains just like Jysk. They promise to open up many more stores very quickly and have a full focus on being Danish, but is that going to be enough? Again I have my doubts because the only thing Danish in the store is the name Copenhagen at the entrance where it says Tiger of Copenhagen. There is no tigers in Denmark and everything sold in the store is produced in a cheap labor manufacturing country mostly located in Asia ,it is stuff that you can buy everywhere else. It will be interesting to follow both Jysk and Tiger of copenhagen and there journey into the turkish market from the outside.
