TÜRKİYE’DE E-TİCARET PLATFORMLARINDA SATIŞ YAPAN KIRSAL KADIN KOOPERATİFLERİNİN İNCELEMESİ

Abstract

Information technologies have radically changed economic system by the new century. Through this change, pandemic conditions have led to a sudden boom in e-commerce which contains almost all of the goods and services markets. In addition to the general impact of this boom, several new studies have emerged to dicuss the opportunities created by e-commerce for the development of women empowerment and entrepreneurship. These studies show that institutional support, education, good governance and opening of new markets have a real importance on the development of good e-commerce practices while there are also business-related, spatial, infrastructural and socio-cultural obstacles. This article aims to trace the changes that e-commerce practices have created and can create in rural women cooperatives in Turkey. This study presents the current conditions of rural women cooperatives active in two biggest e-commerce platforms by showing which cooperative is selling what type of goods through these sites and what kind of comments they are getting. Both frequency and content analysis is used to answer the research questions. One of the findings is the very few number of rural women cooperatives visible in these e-commerce platforms.
 Although their product scale is relatively large, both the sale volume and comments and reviews they have taken are low enough to be counted one by one. There are some striking statements in customer comments and reviews, which show a buying behaviour filled with a motivation of “supporting women cooperatives.” This notion of a general positive attitude towards women cooperatives can be taken into account in the following efforts to develop these organizations and rural areas. In conclusion, this article contributes to the literature by both presenting the current situation in Turkey and deriving conclusions for the development of women cooperatives through e-commerce.