Arçelik: From a Dealer Network to an Omnichannel Experience

Arçelik Turkey, the country’s market leader in household appliances, was at an omnichannel crossroads in January 2020. Arçelik was a B2B player utilizing a dealership network with an umbrella of brands and had one of the largest brick-and-mortar store networks in Turkey. In 2015, Arçelik, which was focused on offline sales, realized that online demand was growing and they were behind the competition, which was intensified due to the entry of global household appliances brands and online marketplaces to Turkey. So, they decided on a company-wide omnichannel transformation scheduled to go-live by 2020. They faced resistance from both dealers and employees. While Arçelik tried to gain the dealers’ trust and buy-in, they experimented with one of their smaller brands on online marketplaces to learn more about e-commerce. In early 2020, Arçelik felt the squeeze as pressure mounted from the growing presence of marketplaces and online demand. They needed to find a way to cater to the online demand quickly while keeping their established partners happy.