Trendyol is expanding to Azerbaijan, a senior official said Sunday, marking the Turkish e-commerce giant’s second market abroad after Germany.

The online marketplace has signed a cooperation agreement with major Azerbaijani conglomerate Pasha Holding, a statement by the company said on Monday. The two will form a joint company for e-commerce activities.

The move comes after Trendyol launched in Germany a year ago, marking its first market outside Türkiye and its entry into Europe. The platform also plans to launch in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and London soon.

The move will increase trade volume between Türkiye and Azerbaijan, Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank said during Teknofest, Türkiye’s premier aerospace and technology festival in Istanbul.

Varank said Türkiye-Azerbaijan relations are based on the "one nation, two countries" concept, adding that bilateral economic ties have recently moved to a different dimension.

"I went to the opening of Trendyol’s Berlin office before; we will now see Trendyol in Azerbaijan," he said.

Çağlayan Çetin, the head of Trendyol Group, said the two firms had taken the first step, and the new website will start its operations as of Wednesday.

The firm, however, will fully start its activities in Azerbaijan once the infrastructure work is complete, he added.

Last year, the primary source of foreign orders to Trendyol was Azerbaijan, Çetin said.

He shared that according to the mobile data analysis platform App Annie, Trendyol was the most downloaded application in Azerbaijan in 2022.

Çetin stressed that the synergy created by Pasha Holding’s experiences in the Azerbaijan market and Trendyol’s technology, logistics and production competencies will make significant contributions to the development of the Azerbaijan e-commerce ecosystem.

"In this sense, we wholeheartedly believe in the success of the strategic partnership established and its positive impact on the brotherly country Azerbaijan," he said.

Explaining that one of the priorities of Trendyol’s future vision is entering foreign markets, he added: "This initiative will strengthen the cooperative relations between Türkiye and Azerbaijan by facilitating cross-border trade and contributing to economic growth in the region."

Jalal Gasimov, the CEO of Pasha Holding, said interest in e-commerce in Azerbaijan is increasing thanks to the wide product range and competitive prices.

While this agreement will provide access to a broader product range at advantageous prices, it will also offer financial products and services of Azerbaijani companies, he said.

"In addition to facilitating technology transfer, this initiative will improve the logistics ecosystem, add value to different areas, create new job opportunities, encourage e-commerce culture, enable SMEs to sell online, and reduce the informal economy," he said. "Thus, we expect this initiative to increase foreign investment in the country."

Founded in 2010, Trendyol, one of Türkiye’s best-known e-commerce platforms, has gained backing from foreign investors and is leading in the country’s fragmented e-commerce market.

Trendyol 2021 became Türkiye’s first "decacorn" – a term for startups whose valuation passes the $10 billion mark.