Startup within a Startup: Trendyol Go
A year and a half has passed since the baton of serving consumers with delivering anything in minutes has been passed from Glovo Turkey to Trendyol. It’s been day one ever since, launching a business from scratch solely dedicated to serving Trendyol users via our own last mile delivery network. Previously unattainable services such as fresh groceries and food were made available which became a service of necessity over convenience during the pandemic.
As anyone that has been part of a real time three-sided marketplace can attest, it’s a tough feat especially when each stakeholder is independent. We can only hope that by providing best in class service we drive the growth, engagement and quality needed to scale. Our focus has been precisely that- to build a community for each stakeholder with a singular mission to better serve the needs of our users by combining technology and operations. Courier partners cherish the flexibility afforded by our platform to choose when and where to work. Similarly, our merchant partners greatly appreciate the efficiency gains of the offline stores via the digital storefront we’ve established in Trendyol’s Hizli Market. We are well cognizant of the fact that our job here is to make our partners succeed ahead of our own.
As far as how the dynamics look internally, we often compare it to a swan- serene, effortless and beautiful on the surface yet tremendous leg work below to keep afloat and move forward. Being a startup within a startup, we try to leverage the best of both worlds, having access to Trendyol’s more than 30 million shoppers and support of various functions within the organization while preserving the agility and nimbleness to most quickly find product market fit. In a little more than a year we now cover 96% of Istanbul, 80% of Ankara and recently launched Izmir while delivering tens of millions of orders. Our pride and focus however is less so on our coverage and orders delivered but more on the frictionless experience and ultimately the virtuous cycle created within.
The principle of “one dream, one team” is a key part of Trendyol’s culture fabric. It binds the team together where hierarchies and egos are put to the bin, instead humility is a common trait shared by all, putting our hearts and minds to better serve our users, where data serves as our guiding light. The emphasis is on accelerating the feedback loop and iterating continuously. Its day 1 mentality everyday, where one of the quotes on the office wall reads: the best performance of today is the minimum requirement of tomorrow.
The value proposition to our users is clear cut — selection, price, quality and speed. It’s worth highlighting again that our contribution to the digital transformation endeavor is by empowering existing brick and mortar stores, who for decades have been an essential part of our local neighborhood yet are struggling to cope with the recent pandemic. Our model is a testament that we can preserve the local neighborhood culture and empower them for the digital era at practically zero investment cost.
We are still at the very early innings of the journey both for Trendyol Group and Trendyol Go. Our survival instincts are high and we all see ourselves as explorers where we chart our own path and celebrate the small wins and learn from our mistakes along the way. If you see yourself as an aspiring explorer who thrives on the uncertainties or rather opportunities afforded by limitless boundaries, come join the tribe.
