# DayBuyDay (2011 – 2013)

- URL: https://girisimcikafasi.com/en/startup-graveyard/daybuyday/
- Sector: E-commerce
- Country: Turkey
- Total funding: unknown
- Cause of closure: Acquired and shut down

## What did it do?

DayBuyDay was a Turkish private shopping site launched in March 2011 as a partnership between Hepsiburada, one of Turkey's largest e-commerce platforms, and Cem Hakko and Dinç Artman. It sold fashion, accessories, cosmetics and children's products at a discount through time-limited campaigns. Unlike its rivals, it did not hide its campaigns behind a membership wall but kept them open to all visitors.

## Why did it shut down?

The company did not give a detailed reason for the closure. According to Webrazzi, there had been talk for some time that the site would be transferred to Hepsiburada and that its employees had begun moving over; a message published on 16 December 2013 announced that sales of its brands and products would continue under the Hepsiburada.com umbrella. The site had entered a crowded market in 2011, at a time when private shopping sites were multiplying rapidly in Turkey; in October 2011 it trailed rivals such as Markafoni, Limango, Trendyol and VIPDükkan in traffic. The fact that one of the partners already owned a large e-commerce site may have weakened the case for keeping a separate brand going; this is an interpretation.

## The story

In early 2011 private shopping sites were opening one after another in Turkey. Hepsiburada chose to join the wave not with its own brand but with a joint venture. According to a Webrazzi report from March 2011, Hepsiburada's e-commerce experience was combined with capital from Cem Hakko and Dinç Artman, and the result was DayBuyDay.com. The site went live on 3 March 2011.

The launch was ambitious. Starting with Vakko, the Turkish luxury fashion house, thanks to Cem Hakko's influence, the site opened the traditional Vakko Shopping Tent to its members and brought Vakko Outlet products online; brands such as Valentino and Prada were said to be going on sale in the days ahead. Campaigns were run in the fashion, accessories, cosmetics and children's categories. According to Webrazzi's market review in autumn 2011, DayBuyDay, unlike its rivals, did not hide its campaigns behind membership but kept them open to all visitors.

The market, however, was crowded. According to comScore data shared by Webrazzi, DayBuyDay ranked eighth among private shopping sites in October 2011 with 953,000 unique visitors. Markafoni, Limango, Trendyol and VIPDükkan led with millions of visitors. Webrazzi nonetheless wrote that the site was among the companies that could grow their traffic with Hepsiburada's support.

Two years later the paths diverged. There had been talk for some time that the site would be transferred to Hepsiburada and that its employees had begun moving over. On 16 December 2013, in a message published on its home page, DayBuyDay announced that sales of the brands and products it offered would continue under the Hepsiburada.com umbrella, and closed. Order tracking was provided for those who had made last-minute purchases. Habertürk's 2017 list of closed e-commerce sites also included it among the ventures that had closed after being transferred to Hepsiburada.

DayBuyDay's story is that of one of the short-lived ventures that opened at the peak of the private shopping wave and, as the wave receded, was folded into its big partner's platform.

## Lessons

- If you enter a crowded market late, you need to turn your difference into measurable growth quickly.
- A big partner's backing is also an exit door; when the partner prefers its own platform, the separate brand's life is cut short.
- Launching with luxury brand partnerships attracts attention, but lasting demand needs a regular and predictable flow of products.

## Sources

- [Daybuyday closes after transfer to Hepsiburada](https://webrazzi.com/2013/12/16/daybuyday-hepsiburadaya-devredilerek-kapandi/)
- [DayBuyDay.com: Hepsiburada and Cem Hakko join forces for private shopping](https://webrazzi.com/2011/03/02/daybuyday/)
- [October visitor numbers for private shopping sites, according to comScore](https://webrazzi.com/2011/11/21/comscore-ozel-alisveris-ekim/)
- [Turkish e-commerce sites that closed before Markafoni! Why did the online shopping sites shut down?](https://www.haberturk.com/ekonomi/teknoloji/haber/1517700-markafoniden-once-kapanan-turk-e-ticaret-siteleri)