Limango Türkiye

What did it do?

Limango was the Turkish version of the private shopping site owned by Germany's Otto Group, founded on 19 February 2009. It sold branded clothing and children's products to members at a discount through time-limited campaigns. It opened sub-categories such as LimangoTech and LimangoKids, and ran joint sales projects with Turkcell and P&G.

Why did it shut down?

The company gave no detailed reason when it closed. According to NTV, the Turkish news channel, its market share falling below 10 per cent accelerated its exit from Turkey. According to Webrazzi, the Turkish tech news site, Limango was the second-strongest site in the market after Markafoni, Turkey's private shopping pioneer; it fell behind with the rise of Trendyol but held its position for a while. After founding executive Gülfem Toygar moved to GittiGidiyor in early 2014, rumours that the company would be sold circulated for a long time; there was talk of discussions with Hepsiburada, n11.com and Markafoni, but no deal emerged.

The story

Limango, part of Otto, one of Germany's large e-commerce groups, came to Turkey in 2009. Registered with the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce on 19 February 2009 as Limango Dış Ticaret ve Sanal Mağazacılık Hizmetleri, the company was led by Gülfem Toygar, who built and ran the Turkish operation. The model was a familiar one: offering members branded products at a discount through short-lived campaigns.

In the years when private shopping was booming in Turkey, Limango quickly became one of the sector's leading names. Webrazzi wrote that the site was the second-biggest player in the market after Markafoni and had succeeded in selling products that had until then been thought impossible to sell online. According to a 2011 market review, Limango was running cross-selling projects with Turkcell and P&G and trying to stand out with innovations such as sub-categories like LimangoTech and LimangoKids and a mobile app. In 2012 the group also opened a second site in Turkey, the general e-commerce site and marketplace Arabulvar.

Over time the mood of the market changed. With the rise of Trendyol, Limango slipped down the rankings, though it managed to hold its position for a while. In early 2014 Gülfem Toygar left the company to become CEO of GittiGidiyor. Rumours that Limango would be sold then circulated for a long time; the names of Hepsiburada, n11.com and Markafoni came up, but no deal emerged.

On 30 March 2015 a short message on the site announced the end: Limango was regretfully ending its operations on limango.com.tr. It said orders not yet shipped would be delivered and customer service would continue by email. According to NTV, the company's market share falling below 10 per cent had accelerated the decision to withdraw. On the same day, in the same words, Arabulvar also ended its operations.

Limango's Turkish adventure lasted six years. The story shows how quickly a global group's venture in a local market can end when competition intensifies and scale targets are missed.

Lessons for founders

• In a market where many rivals run the same model, being second or third can exhaust a global parent company's patience.
• The departure of a founding executive creates uncertainty for the team and partners, especially when combined with sale rumours.
• If the foreign parent company has a clear success threshold for the local market, change your plan before you drop below it.

Sources

1. Limango Turkey ends its operations (in Turkish) (Webrazzi, 2015-03-30)
2. Limango decides to pull out of Turkey (in Turkish) (NTV, 2015-04-03)
3. Private shopping site Limango closes (in Turkish) (Marketing Türkiye, 2015-03-30)
4. Where does Turkey's private shopping market stand? (in Turkish) (Webrazzi, 2011-10-13)
5. October visitor numbers for private shopping sites, according to comScore (in Turkish) (Webrazzi, 2011-11-21)
6. Private shopping sites that closed before Markafoni (in Turkish) (Webrazzi, 2017-06-01)
7. Arabulvar closure announcement, Internet Archive copy (in Turkish) (Internet Archive, 2015-08-01)

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