MR.DIY Türkiye ties growth to 3 pillars, how can a retailer grow beyond opening stores?
MR.DIY Türkiye ties its growth in the country to three pillars, according to Business Development Director Sezen Cin Özdemir: expanding into new cities while going deeper in existing ones, investing in Flagship concept stores and raising operational efficiency (Perakende.org, 18 September 2026). In her words, the new “Flagship 3.0” concept puts the store experience first while keeping the wide product range and the price advantage. The interview gives no store count, floor area, revenue or investment figure.
Here is what it means for you. In autumn 2026, for a small retailer with physical stores in Türkiye, the growth question is no longer “which branch do I open next”. The new question is how much more business you can get out of the store, the city and the team you already have. That decision comes before any new branch, and it often changes whether you need one at all.
Which three pillars does MR.DIY Türkiye tie its growth to?
According to Özdemir, the three pillars are expansion into new cities alongside deeper presence in current ones, Flagship concept investments and operational efficiency. Underneath them sit location choice, a wide product range, an affordable pricing policy and the operating structure. None of the pillars comes with a number, and that is worth keeping in mind as you read.
Should MR.DIY’s approach make retailers stop measuring growth by store count alone?
Yes, store count is not enough as a single measure. Özdemir says it plainly: “Our growth approach is not limited to an increase in stores or square metres” (our translation). Store count is a visible signal, but on its own it does not tell you what lands in the till. So the real question is: what is your measure of growth?
Which retailers does MR.DIY’s growth model squeeze, and which does it leave room for?
Independent neighbourhood shops selling home, garden and household goods with a wide range at low prices feel it most directly, since these categories sit close to MR.DIY’s own. Small chains renting mall space in the same categories are part of the comparison too. Suppliers and mall managers are affected indirectly.
How can a small retailer adapt MR.DIY’s three pillars to its own store?
Through three gates, opened in order. Growth decisions are often made in a rush of “I found a location, let’s open”. Instead, we suggest passing three gates before any new branch; each gate matches one of Özdemir’s pillars, and if one is closed, the new branch waits.
How does a retailer growing beyond new stores, like MR.DIY, build its digital side?
By being as clear on the map, in search and on the website as the store itself. The digital twin of going deeper is ranking in local search. The twin of a concept store is your product and category pages. The twin of efficiency is seeing stock, orders and customer data in one place.
What should a retail business owner do this week after MR.DIY’s growth interview?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Write your growth measure in one sentence
- Clean up your map and website listing in one sitting
- Separate dead stock and decide its fate
Do four things this week: write down your measure, work out revenue per store, fix your map listing and re-sort one shelf from scratch. One question is enough: which number did you look at when you made your last branch decision? If the answer is “gut feeling”, you are in the right place.
Write your growth measure in one sentence
A sentence like “raise sales per square metre over the next six months” is enough. A business that never writes down its measure mistakes every new shop for growth. Pin the sentence next to the till so the team sees it too.
Clean up your map and website listing in one sitting
Update opening hours, address, phone number and the shopfront photo. Make sure the store name on your website matches the name on the map. It takes one afternoon, and customers stop turning away at the door.
Separate dead stock and decide its fate
List the products that did not sell at all last quarter. Decide whether each one gets discounted, returned or tested online. Once the shelf opens up, there is room for products that move. If you want to set up these three steps together with the digital side, this is the work we do in digital consulting.
On our retail page, where we interpret the Turkish retail agenda for you, you can follow the same question through other news. The desk’s decision rule is simple: open the new branch when the numbers show your current store is full.
Quick Summary
- According to Sezen Cin Özdemir, MR.DIY Türkiye ties growth to city depth, Flagship concept stores and operational efficiency (Perakende.org, 18 September 2026).
- The interview contains no figures such as store count, revenue or investment amount.
- The AVM productivity index rose 22.9 percent in nominal terms in August 2026, while annual inflation was 31.51 percent (AYD-Akademetre).
- Retail e-commerce volume in Türkiye reached TL 2.46 trillion in 2025 (Ministry of Trade).
- For a small retailer, the first measure is not branch count but the business each store produces.
Short Glossary
- Sales per square metre
- Sales per square metre is the measure used to show how hard a store’s space works, by dividing total sales by the selling area.
- Flagship store
- A flagship store is the lead store used to showcase a brand’s experience and product range in its fullest form.
- Stock turnover
- Stock turnover is the indicator used to measure how many times the goods on the shelf sell and get replaced in a given period.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
If you want to review your store’s growth measure and digital listing together, fill in the consult your expert form, and we will set the first step together based on where you stand today.
Sources: Perakende.org, 18 September 2026 · Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, 2021 · Ministry of Trade, Outlook of E-Commerce in Türkiye, 2026 · AYD-Akademetre mall index, Foreks, 28 September 2026
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Going deeper means being closer to customers, and seen more often, in the same city instead of planting a flag and moving on. The interview does not detail how the company applies this pillar. Look, for a small retailer the translation is clear: do not rush to a new district before you have won the one you are in.
According to Özdemir, the concept moves the store experience forward without giving up the price advantage or the product range. How many stores use it, when it opened and how large those stores are is not known. So we have a direction, not a scale.
The group opened its first store in Türkiye in Istanbul in 2021. According to the record of the Investment Office of the Turkish Presidency, the group had more than 1,600 stores worldwide at the time. That is a 2021 figure; the interview gives no current store count for Türkiye.
A second branch opens, the shop signs double, yet sales per square metre can stay flat. Rent and staff costs climb toward double while customers split between two stores. You grow on paper, not at the till.
The AYD-Akademetre AVM sales productivity per square metre index (AVM is the Turkish term for a shopping mall) rose 22.9 percent year on year in nominal terms in August 2026. Annual inflation in the same month was 31.51 percent. That means mall productivity per square metre fell in real terms. Nominal growth can fool your own numbers in the same way.
Sales per square metre, average basket size, visit frequency per customer and stock turnover. All four show how hard your current store is working. The branch decision should come to the table only after these four mature. If you are a mall tenant, read your rent next to sales per square metre; if rent starts to bend your back, look at the terms of your current lease first.
When a wide range and a low price meet on the same shelf, a shop that competes on price alone struggles. The customer walks in, checks the price and walks out. This shop’s trump cards are on the service side: speed, advice and repair know-how.
The scale game is strong on range and price, not on one-to-one advice. The seller who names the right screw, the right paint, the right seal keeps the customer. This store looks for growth in loyal customers, not in branches. Its baskets may stay small, but visits are frequent and the till keeps turning every week.
No. According to Türkiye’s Ministry of Trade, retail e-commerce volume grew 51.8 percent in 2025 to TL 2.46 trillion. In the same report, home, garden, furniture and decoration make up 10.5 percent of e-commerce businesses. The physical store’s rival is also growing inside the screen.
Let’s say you run a housewares store in a district of Bursa. Do you know how many people come to you from the neighbouring areas? If you do not, you are trying to spread before you have gone deep.
A concept store does not need a big budget. A try-it corner, a shelf layout that reads well, a clear category order and a knowledgeable seller are enough. If a product is gathering dust on the shelf, the problem is usually the presentation, not the price.
If a stock count takes weeks and dead SKUs occupy the shelf, a second store doubles the problem. Team skills are part of this gate too; our piece on adapting a marketplace’s youth digital skills program for small firms shows how to close that gap.
Anyone who checks retailers’ map listings often finds the same picture: the store exists, but its digital record is broken. Wrong opening hours, an old phone number, a profile without photos. Customers turn away at the door online, and you never even see it.
What is in stock, what can be tried in store and what can be picked up the same day. A product page is an extension of the shelf; what is on the shelf should be on the site. A customer who checks the site, comes in and cannot find the item will not trust the site again. If you sell on a marketplace, spell your store name and product names the same way on every channel.
Sales data tells you which product moves and which one sits. AI-assisted tools can speed up that reading, but timing the device and software investment is a separate decision. Our piece reading Lenovo’s quarterly results through a business owner’s eyes gathers the data for that decision.
The interview does not give a current store count. The only official record we have says the group had more than 1,600 stores worldwide in 2021 and entered Türkiye with its first store in Istanbul.
Yes, at its own scale. A try-it corner, a readable shelf layout and a knowledgeable seller change the store experience without a large investment.
Check your current store’s sales per square metre, average basket, stock turnover and the share of customers coming from nearby neighbourhoods. If these are weak, a second branch makes the problem bigger.