D-Market Elektronik Hizmetler ve Ticaret A.S. (HEPS) Company Overview

D-MARKET Elektronik Hizmetler ve Ticaret A.Ş., known as Hepsiburada, is a Turkish commerce-technology company founded in 2000 and listed on Nasdaq. It connects consumers, merchants, brands, logistics partners and payment services. Beyond online retail and a marketplace, it operates delivery, fulfillment, advertising, loyalty, payment and consumer-finance capabilities.

Which activities sit inside the platform?

The commerce layer combines first-party retail, where Hepsiburada sells owned inventory, with a third-party marketplace that earns commissions and merchant fees. Around it sit HepsiJet delivery, Hepsilojistik fulfillment, HepsiPay, HepsiAd, Premium membership and affordability products. The company’s stated vision is to lead the digitalization of commerce, which explains why management treats logistics and payments as operating infrastructure rather than unrelated side businesses.

Hepsiburada’s revenue accounting makes the business look more retail-heavy than its transaction mix. In first-party sales, the full selling price is recorded as revenue and inventory cost is recorded separately. In the third-party marketplace, only commissions, transaction fees and other merchant charges are recorded as revenue. Therefore, marketplace GMV can be the majority of platform activity even while 1P remains the largest reported revenue line.

Which revenue stream is largest?

Where can margin expand?

Margin can expand if service revenue grows without weakening merchant economics or customer value. Marketplace fees, advertising, fulfillment, payments and membership generally require less inventory capital than 1P retail. The trade-off is that delivery speed, merchant subsidies, installments and marketing can absorb the incremental gross contribution. The company’s official ecosystem description shows how these services are intended to work together.

The first-quarter 2026 results showed faster real growth in orders, GMV and revenue than the full-year 2025 baseline. Active customers increased 2.5% to 11.6 million, order frequency rose 13.6% to 7.2, and active merchants increased 1.7% to 101.6 thousand. Average order value also increased 5.1%, indicating that growth was not solely a low-ticket volume effect.

How did the revenue mix change?

Why did profit and cash flow send mixed signals?

Gross contribution reached TRY 8.5B, but gross contribution margin declined to 14.7% of GMV from 15.5%. EBITDA improved to TRY 420.3M from TRY 142.4M, yet net loss widened to TRY 992.0M. Management attributed the pressure to higher installment-related financial fees, advertising and shipping support. Operating cash outflow improved to TRY 395.1M and free-cash-flow outflow improved to TRY 1.1B, but the quarter remained seasonally cash consumptive. This is a useful reminder that EBITDA, net income and cash flow measure different layers of the model.

The strategic tension is whether adjacent services become profitable flywheels or permanent subsidies. Delivery, payment and merchant tools can improve conversion, speed and loyalty, but they add regulation, technology cost, credit exposure and operating complexity.

Why is logistics the most visible strategic lever?

Delivery affects both sides of the marketplace. Faster and more predictable shipping can raise conversion and repeat ordering, while better parcel density can lower unit cost. In Q4 2025, next-day shipping reached 63%, up from 47% a year earlier, and average monthly active customers rose 14.5% to 3.679 million under the company’s selected engagement definition. Yet Q1 2026 shipping and packaging expense increased 30.1%, faster than delivery revenue growth of 22.6%, because the company subsidized cargo to support merchant economics and speed. The service is therefore both a moat candidate and a margin risk.

Hepsiburada’s history matters because each major step added a layer to the present model. The official corporate milestones show a progression from online retailer to marketplace, logistics network, payment platform and public company.

1. 2000
   Founded as a 1P e-commerce business. The retail origin explains why product revenue and inventory management still dominate reported revenue.
2. 2015
   Marketplace model introduced. Third-party merchants expanded selection and shifted a growing share of transaction value toward a less inventory-intensive structure.
3. 2016–2017
   HepsiPay and HepsiJet launched. Payments and delivery became proprietary control points in the customer journey.
4. 2021
   Nasdaq IPO and nationwide HepsiJet coverage. The listing increased disclosure and capital-market visibility; logistics reached all 81 provinces.
5. 2022
   Premium loyalty launched. Membership introduced a retention mechanism and a way to bundle commerce and media benefits.
6. 2024
   Portfolio pruning and scale milestones. Premium surpassed 3 million members and HepsiPay’s wallet exceeded 17 million customers, while less-proven initiatives were discontinued or paused.
7. 2025–2026
   Kaspi.kz took control and increased its stake. The shareholder change ended the dual-class structure, reshaped the board and placed greater emphasis on growth, delivery and platform integration.

What changed after Kaspi.kz became the controller?

Control moved from the founder and Doğan family to Kaspi.kz in January 2025. The privileged Class A structure was terminated, leaving one ordinary share class with one vote per share. Strategically, the company gained a controller with experience in mobile commerce, payments and marketplace ecosystems. Financially, management increased investment in marketing, delivery speed, merchant economics and installments. The result has been stronger order and GMV growth, but weaker near-term net income and a thinner EBITDA margin than a pure harvesting strategy would produce.

Is the moat durable or still being built?

Hepsiburada’s strongest resources are local scale, brand familiarity, merchant relationships, proprietary technology and a delivery network designed for Türkiye. More merchants improve selection, more customers improve merchant economics, and more parcels improve delivery density.

The moat is not absolute. Consumers compare prices quickly, merchants can use several platforms, and large rivals can subsidize logistics or marketing. Switching costs are behavioral rather than contractual. Hepsiburada must keep earning loyalty through price, selection, trust, speed and payment convenience.

Competition is intense because shoppers can compare prices and delivery promises quickly. The 2025 Form 20-F cites marketplaces, hybrid retailers, online channels, social commerce and category specialists. Trendyol and Amazon Türkiye appear in the company’s regulatory disclosures, while cross-border low-price platforms add pricing pressure.

What would a Five Forces reading conclude?

Buyer power is high because price transparency is strong. Merchant power is moderate because sellers have alternatives, but platform traffic and logistics can still be valuable. Rivalry is high and substitutes include stores, brand websites and social commerce. Entry barriers are low for a storefront but high for nationwide trust, traffic, fulfillment density, payments and customer service. The practical conclusion is that Hepsiburada’s scale matters, but durable returns depend on converting that scale into lower unit costs and differentiated service rather than simply matching competitors’ promotions.

The 2025 Form 20-F shows a company with strong transaction scale and cash generation over the full year, but weak accounting profitability and a working-capital structure that requires careful interpretation. Because Türkiye is treated as a hyperinflationary economy under IAS 29, the financial statements are restated in period-end purchasing power. Readers should not mix figures from different reporting packages without respecting the stated measuring date.

What did FY2025 establish as the annual baseline?

What does the Q1 2026 balance sheet imply?

At March 31, 2026, cash and cash equivalents were TRY 7.9B and financial investments were TRY 1.9B, compared with bank borrowings of TRY 343.2M. Lease liabilities totaled roughly TRY 1.9B. That produces a comfortable cash-to-bank-debt position, but current liabilities of TRY 29.8B exceeded current assets of TRY 24.4B. The difference mainly reflects trade payables and amounts due to merchants of TRY 22.3B, which are integral to marketplace working capital rather than equivalent to conventional financial debt.

Capital allocation is currently growth-oriented. FY2025 advertising expense rose 30.0% to TRY 7.3B, while Q1 2026 advertising increased 42.2%. Management is also funding delivery speed, merchant subsidies and installment affordability. A DCF should therefore treat reinvestment as economically necessary rather than assume all current cash generation can be distributed.

Hepsiburada is now a controlled company. The original founder-controlled dual-class structure ended in January 2025, and all ordinary shares carry one vote each. However, economic and voting control is highly concentrated in Kaspi.kz. The latest official Schedule 13D amendment reported 309,866,046 shares, equal to 86.74% of 357,225,200 outstanding shares as of the filing basis.

How does control shape the board and strategy?

The current board has eight members: five executives associated with Kaspi.kz and three independent directors. Mikheil Lomtadze, Kaspi.kz’s chief executive, is chairman. The committee structure assigns independent members to the audit committee and includes independent representation in governance and risk oversight. Still, the controller can set strategic direction, capital policy and leadership priorities.

What recent governance events deserve attention?

The CEO transition announcement emphasized internal continuity and a separate delivery leadership role. The later extraordinary meeting notice proposed a substantial capital increase. The proposal was pending shareholder action when announced, so analysis should not assume the final post-transaction ownership percentages.

The upside case requires profitable engagement: more orders per customer, denser marketplace activity, better delivery economics, higher service attachment and stronger cash conversion. The downside is that competition, inflation and growth spending keep margins thin.

Where could growth come from?

Which risks are most material?

The next scheduled data point is Q2 2026 results on August 6, 2026, according to the official reporting-date announcement. The most important comparison will be whether Q1’s faster growth is sustained without another step-up in shipping, advertising and financing costs.

A Hepsiburada DCF should not start with reported revenue alone. The model mixes gross 1P sales with net 3P commissions, and inflation accounting complicates comparisons. Model GMV, marketplace mix, service monetization, gross contribution, operating costs, working capital and capital spending separately.

The integrated conclusion

Hepsiburada has built a scaled Turkish commerce ecosystem. Its 2026 growth acceleration suggests stronger engagement, but the company still must prove that scale can produce durable net profit and free cash flow without excessive marketing, logistics subsidy or installment cost.