Sales boom for electrical household appliances

The sales of electrical household appliances boomed in Turkey last year amid the coronavirus pandemic as people followed stay-at-home orders with lockdown and social distancing measures.

Turkey saw more than a 300%-increase in domestic sales of electrical household appliances such as electronic bread makers, blow dryers, shaving sets, yogurt makers, and scales, Mesut Öksüz, the head of the Turkish Houseware Association (Zucder), told Anadolu Agency.

Personal care and kitchen appliances were the most popular items of last year, he said.

Forced to stay at home, people took up new hobbies such as baking bread.

With hairdressers and spas closed, people began buying self-grooming personal care items.

Noting that the sales shifted toward online platforms, Öksüz said, companies struggled initially to meet the rising demand.

"We solved the supply issue in a short time which was occurred by disruptions in imports," he noted.

On the overseas sales side, he said Turkey's electrical household appliances sector generated $831 million in export revenues last year.

Turkey is the 12th largest electrical household appliances exporter globally and 40th largest importer, he added.

"This shows the power of domestic production as the sector has registered more than $600 million of foreign trade surplus since 2008," he said, adding the figure rose to $720 million in 2020.

While Turkey's electrical household appliances exports remained stable in 2019 compared to a year ago, they fell 16% year-on-year in 2020.

Vacuum cleaners, shaving, hair cutting and epilation devices, irons, hairdryers, and water heaters garnered great demand from abroad last year, Öksüz said.

Stressing that Turkish appliances...