Our General Manager Mehmet Apak answered the questions of the Ekonomist magazine.
Mentioning that Zer led the way in making procurement and supply chain management a sector in Turkiye, Apak emphasized the difference we have created in our industry with a focus on cooperation, ecosystem, and trust and said, "We are developing our ecosystem with long-term gains, not short-term individual gains. With our business model that takes our clients and suppliers out of their comfort zones, we play a crucial role in reconsidering the procurement processes from all angles, achieving the goal of transparency, and thus eliminating possible blindness."
Mehmet Apak also announced to the readers that we managed a purchase budget of 10 billion TRY in 2021 and would double this budget by the end of the year.
Our General Manager, who gave information about the projects on our agenda in 2022, shared that our priority is to establish strategic cooperation with strong partners and to develop projects that will arise from this cooperation.
Mentioning that the demand for digital procurement and supply chain solutions has increased with the effect of the pandemic, Mehmet Apak said that Promena, which meets the needs of supplier diversity, risk management, and agile management, is an important resource at this point with its Marketplace, where it brings together more than 40 thousand suppliers. He also added that ZerOnline, which has 550 thousand products, is a solution to the industry's B2B e-commerce platform needs with its advanced order management features, integration capability, and product variety.
Answering the question about the changing trends in supply chain management since the pandemic, Mehmet Apak said, "With the pandemic, being prepared for the future in every field, getting used to living with uncertainty, developing B and even C, D plans and having foresight have become the necessities of the new era. With the shift of the axis in the supply chain to local structures, we foresee that instead of unlimited trade, the door will open to a supply chain management and procurement system shaped by relationships within local and regional borders, where trust is essential."
Talking about our strategy against inflation, which is one of the most important issues of day and age, Apak said that we have recently reconsidered all contracts to make accurate pricing in a way that will protect our suppliers and clients from the risk of price increase, in this way we have provided proper pricing to our clients, that we relieve the cash flow of our suppliers by reflecting the costs incurred in the unit price, and that we support their cash flows by paying our suppliers before the payment due date in cases where inflation is high.
