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<v ->Today, I am very pleased to be together</v>

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with Sitare Sezgin, CEO of Teknosa.

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Sitare, thank you for coming

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and thank you for allocating your time

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to talk about Teknosa's transformation

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journey with us. Welcome.

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<v ->Thank you, Asli. It's always
a pleasure to be with you.</v>

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<v ->Teknosa is going through
a big transformation.</v>

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Would you start by explaining

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how this transformation journey started

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and what you did in the
first part?

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<v ->Of course. Teknosa is
Turkey's leading electronics</v>

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retailer, and it is the most
well-known and most reputable

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and most trusted brand in
the electronics retail there.

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We needed to strengthen
our retail muscles.

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We had to transform
our operations in order

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to improve our financial performance.

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So as you mentioned,

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we started a holistic
turnaround together with BCG,

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and when people talk about,
of course, transformation,

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especially loss-making
companies, generally, the

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first thing that comes to mind
is a dramatic cost reduction.

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But what we did was both
boosting the top line and

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improving operational
and financial efficiency.

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This top-line transformation
of Teknosa was one of the,

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I think, key building
blocks of the success.

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Would you please continue
for what you did

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in the next phases?

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<v ->We introduced some mechanisms</v>

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to improve our cost discipline,

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and we achieved savings
in advance in financial

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and administrative expenses.

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But what we did, we used these resources

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to increase our sales staff

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to deploy the optimum inventory
of our stores as well as

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to improve our incentive schemes.

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So our end-to-end financial

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and operational transformation took us

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to a profit-generating
company in less than a year.

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The exciting thing was this
turnaround gave us the right

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to build a new Teknosa,

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starting with the launch
of the Teknosa Marketplace

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and continuing with a
new comprehensive

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digital-driven transformation.

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<v ->Marketplace was such a bold decision.</v>

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It wasn't easy to make,

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I know. We had big discussions,

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but I think it was a bold decision.

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And congratulations on that.

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What made you take this decision?

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How did you see the
Marketplace opportunity?

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<v ->Actually, Marketplace was one</v>

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of the top transformative
steps that we have taken.

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It initiated our journey to
become a digital platform

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with a physical presence

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that we call ourself a digital
retailer. Like everywhere

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else across the world,

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the shift to online has
accelerated in the Turkish

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electronics retailing after Covid,

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and consumers are especially
seeking trust when it comes

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to big-ticket purchases.

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So in the Teknosa Marketplace
model, what we are doing, we

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are only working with top-
quality and trusted merchants,

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and Teknosa acts as an
ecosystem moderator and

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guarantees trust and seamless
and reliable customer

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experiences. We had a very fast

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and a very successful
launch in February 2022,

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and since then, we have been
improving our Marketplace.

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<v ->I remember those days.</v>

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It was a very fast-paced implementation.

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Would you share some numbers
to put it into perspective?

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<v ->When we say fast, it is really fast.</v>

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It was less than six months.

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To date, our marketplace
features almost 1,000 active

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sellers with more than 150,000 products.

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That means that our product
offering has expanded 30 times

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in number of SKUs.

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Marketplace capability has
actually positively impacted

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our overall online e-commerce business.

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Our traffic and online
sales volume almost doubled

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in less than two years.

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<v ->And of course with this, you</v>

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are now building the new
Teknosa, the future of

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Teknosa, and what does it look like?

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<v ->Now, we have a big ambition to make</v>

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Teknosa a digital-first company,

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and to achieve this ambition,
we are putting digitalization

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and artificial intelligence into the core

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of our transformation journey.

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We're introducing an AI-
based sales assistant tool

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to support our salesforce.

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Also, we are planning

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to use AI again in assortment optimization

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and later, markdown optimization.

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Last but not least,

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we are also transforming our technology,

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our technological infrastructure,

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to really make Teknosa
a digital-first company.

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We are transforming our ERP

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and also our data-management capabilities.

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<v ->And we talk a lot about the "What" part</v>

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of the transformation. In BCG transforming,

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we look at the transformations
with two lenses.

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One is the "What" part,

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and the other one is
the "How" part, which is

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as important as the "What" part.

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How did you make sure

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that your team members
embrace this transformation?

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Actually, the whole transformation is

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a big cultural shift for Teknosa

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from a top-line-oriented company.

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Now we are an impact-oriented company.

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Now each and every member of Teknosa

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thinks about the ultimate impact

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of their decisions and actions.

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Thank you, Sitare. Thank you, Asli.

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It's always been a real pleasure
together working with you.