Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The 21^st of the Traditional Consumer Awards Ceremony organized by the Ministry of Customs and Commerce on March 15^th was held at the Green Park Hotel in Ankara. TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, during his speech at the ceremony hosted by the Minister of Customs and Commerce Bülent Tüfenkci, said, “Basically, we are both business people and consumers; both producers and consumers. Consumption necessitates production and the consumer keeps the manufacturer in business. Our culture in particular sees the consumer as benefactor.”

- Marketing has overtaken the cognizance of 'benefactor'

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that marketing is increasingly important and that the understanding of the beneficiary is lagging lbehind. He said, “At WalMart, 100,000s products are presented to the customers. It is possible to find 27 million books on Amazon. Starbucks has 87,000 different drink combinations. About 50 years ago, there were 3,000 products in an average supermarket. Now the number is up to 30,000. Only in the category of biscuits, the number of products was around 60-70 in 90s; now it is over 300. This onslaught of products makes it harder for consumers to choose. Companies and producers are trying to get ahead of the pack with different strategies. In doing so, there are also people who resort to unfair and deceptive ways. The state's institutions and laws have been working for years to protect the rights of consumers. But the fact is that the consumer can only be protected by their own awareness. In this regard, awareness is a power of the consumer as much as money is. Thanks to this awareness they can get their money back; get rid of fraudulent, defective goods. This awareness is to know the rights, to distinguish between good and bad products and services. To be able to compare price and quality by using avenues of information. Internet and social media are already offering opportunities for conscious consumers. 60% of the economic activity is domestic consumption. As a result, the concept of consumer democracy comes to the fore throughout the world.”

- Consumer preferences commanding the economy

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that every conscious consumer, by demanding better products and making use of resources more wisely, directs the manufacturer. Pointing out that those who do not react against dishonesty and stay silent in the face of deception are unconscious consumers, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that this harms both the consumer and the economy.

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, talking about the rights of consumers, stated that it is also important to remember that consumers also have responsibilities and that, “I consider the principle of zero tolerance against unsafe products and the concept of ‘conscious consumer, prudent merchant’ as extremely important and give full support. In recent years, the use of e-commerce has increased rapidly, while e-commerce companies have also increased. In this transformation in trade, the Ministry took the necessary steps for the consumers not to be victims and to be able to shop with confidence. As TOBB, we will give a confidence mark to e-commerce sites under the leadership of our Ministry. In this way, we will provide both secure e-commerce infrastructure and increased e-commerce volume.”

- Customs and Commerce Minister Bülent Tüfenkci

Customs and Commerce Minister Bülent Tüfenkci said, “We want to bring the unsafe Product Information System to life this year; we plan to have a system that is open to the public and integrated with social media.”

Tüfenkci said that they are trying to provide efficient, fast and human-focused services to protecting economic interests, health and safety of consumers. Pointing out that the e-commerce sector is developing in rapidly, Tüfenkci stated that they are taking measures to protect the consumers against the current and future problems.

- Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mustafa Tuna

Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mustafa Tuna also emphasized the importance of consumer rights with the growth of competition and said, “The number of people who made mistakes in such an environment is too many. Consumers should be conscious in sorting out the rotten apples in the market. We must protect the rights of the consumer and the producer. We will continue to give all support to the development of consumer rights. I believe that we will attain a better future together as a conscious society.”

- Gaziantep Metropolitan Mayor Fatma Sahin

Gaziantep Metropolitan Mayor Fatma Şahin emphasized the importance of quality in competition in a human-oriented development model, “It is our duty to increase consumer awareness; not only for economic development but human development.”