Türkiye’s Quality Brands Survey

About the study

A study of what consumers understand by “quality”, how they assess it, how much extra they are willing to pay for it, and which brands they consider high quality in each sector. The results show that, despite the cost of living, consumers were unwilling to compromise on quality, associated it most strongly with durability, and were prepared to pay more for a quality product.

Key findings

Quality was the strongest influence on product or service choice (47.8%), followed by price (41.5%), brand awareness (7%) and after-sales support (1.7%). 54.3% described quality as “very important” and 37.8% as “important”; the proportion calling it very important was higher among men (58.1%) than women (50.7%).
Durability was the clearest indicator of quality (47.8%), followed by the product’s materials (34%). A brand’s history was the strongest indicator of its quality (48.5%). Quality received the most attention in technology products (38.7%) and food (30.2%).
Half of respondents thought a high price “sometimes” reflected quality; 73.5% believed a product could be both inexpensive and high quality. 81.2% were willing to pay more for quality, with food taking priority: 39.7% could pay up to 20% more for it.
59.2% considered domestic products high quality: 47.2% rated them good quality and 12% very good quality. The equivalent figure for foreign products was 65%. By country, Germany was associated with the highest-quality products (69.7%), followed by Japan (34.3%), the USA (34.2%) and Türkiye (24.5%).
Brands named as quality leaders by sector included Burger King in fast food (43.3%), Zara in womenswear (29.8%), adidas in shoes and bags (45.7%), Kiğılı in menswear (34.7%), Arçelik in major domestic appliances (62.5%), OMO in detergent (57.3%), Lenovo in computers (36.3%), Ülker (43.7%) and Eti (43.2%) in food, Migros in grocery retail (70.3%), Gratis in personal care (24.7%), and İstikbal in furniture (39.4%).

Methodology

Conducted online in October 2024, with 600 interviews and a reported 94% confidence level and 4% margin of error. The study took account of Türkiye’s population, NUTS1 regional distribution and age quotas; 49.6% of participants were men and 50.4% women.

Ertan Aksoy’s assessment (summary)

According to Ertan Aksoy, the inflationary environment since 2018 has pushed consumers towards increasingly rational behaviour. The potential of products offering value for money has grown, while perceptions of quality remain associated with durability. For consumers, quality means obtaining the most durable product within their means, rather than simply buying the best. He links technology overtaking food to screen dependence, and increased trust in domestic products to export-oriented production and rising nationalism. He also argues that Chinese value-for-money products have challenged the assumption that expensive products are necessarily high quality.