ISTANBUL — The retail sector in Turkey, which recently suffered from the Gezi Park protests, the Dec. 17 operation and the election process, can recover its losses with the consumption increase of special days. Surveys suggest that consumption in the retail sector experiences a three-fourfold increase due to special days like Christmas, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day and can reach a volume of $10 billion. However, it is also proven in the surveys that the special days that concern women boost the economy much more than other ones.Flowers are the first gift that comes to mind on the special days that concentrate on women. Exports of this gift have been completed, according to sector representatives. Chamber of Florist Artisans data indicates that overseas sales that ended as of the weekend doubled compared to last year.A similar boost is expected in the domestic market. Istanbul Chamber of Florist Artisans Chairperson Sunay Çalışır drew attention to the fact that presenting bouquets on special days has become widespread, and thus, they expect an increase of 70-80 percent in sales. At this point, Çalışır drew attention to the fact that retail sales are negatively affected by online and mobile sales.Accordingly, the increase is not in value but in volume for Mother's Day. Çalışır related this to the upcoming spring, and listed the flowers that are most preferred as wild flowers, sweet William, chamomile, lilies, carnation and so on. According to the Dünya newspaper, another area where economic activity has increased is the ready-to-wear industry. Chairman United Brands Association (BMD) Chairman Hüseyin Doğan highlighted that Mothers' Day creates a considerable turnover boost, especially in the ready-to-wear sector like all retail sectors.Doğan said that this sector closed the first quarter of the year at 17 percent, which is higher than expected and also closed April with a two-digit increase. "Together with this weekend, turnover steps up rapidly, particularly in women's wear. May will also be a profitable month for the sector.Fathers' Day and Shopping Fest occur next month. These periods are the most intensive in terms of shopping and giving presents.We expect June will be a very profitable month," Doğan remarked. For special days that heat up the retail sector, the amounts spent on technological products also increase. According to data from Growth from Knowledge, an increase of 40 percent was observed on an item-by-item basis in shopping in technology markets in the week of Mothers' Day 2013 compared to the previous week. The highest increase in the number of items was in the small home appliances, personal care products, telecom and IT categories, respectively.The amount increased by 20 percent.General Director of Teknosa, a technology market in Turkey, Necil Oyman, indicated that sales in Teknosa grew by 25 percent in the week of Mothers' Day 2013 compared to the previous week. Oyman stated that they expected growth of 50 percent this year in the week of Mothers' Day compared to the previous week. "The positive effect of this special day will increase with deferred demands from previous months. We observe that online searches for Mothers' Day gifts started much earlier this year. The number of people entering our online technology market "teknosa.com" increased. We reinforce the increasing demand with very attractive campaigns and quality service at Teknosa," Oyman said. According to Oyman, the most active periods in technology sales are Christmas Eve, semester endings, Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day, respectively. Oyman noted that customers might prefer various technological gifts for their mothers and fathers; the amount of small home appliances increases on Mothers' Day, while the rate of expense increases on Fathers' Day.In the past, money spent on Mothers' Day outdid the money spent on Valentine's Day. According to data from Interbank Card Center, 13.3 million card transactions were made for May 14-15, 2011, while this number climbed to 16 million for May 11-13, 2012. When e-commerce transactions are considered, 1.9 million deals were made. The figures for 2013 have yet to be announced; however, it is estimated that the number of card transactions approached 20 million.