Omni Talk’s Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton sat down with Mustafa Bartin, Retail CEO of Migros Turkey, at Groceryshop 2025 in the VusionGroup booth. Mustafa shared his remarkable journey starting online grocery in 1997 as a 23-year-old engineer, why Turkish shoppers prefer self-checkout over scan-and-go (“shopping should be done by two free hands”), and how Migros is launching a financial services vertical that could signal the future for US grocers.
From 23-Year-Old Engineer to CEO: A 28-Year Journey
Mustafa’s retail career spans 13 years with an interesting detour. He started at Migros as a young engineer in 1995 and became the person who launched online grocery in 1997—making Migros potentially the first brick-and-mortar company in Europe to start online grocery delivery. He challenges anyone claiming to have started earlier to reach out.
After leaving Migros in 2000 to spend nine years at Hewlett Packard, one of his best friends became CEO and invited him back. Mustafa returned as Chief Digital Officer, leading IT, online grocery, CRM, and business development. After six years, he transitioned from tech to business operations, becoming CEO of the retail business three years ago.
🔑 Turkey’s Unique Grocery Landscape
Scale Defined Differently
The first major difference between Turkish and US retail: the definition of “big.” What Migros considers a large store (70,000-80,000 square feet maximum) would be a standard supermarket in the US. Some Walmart Supercenters are three times that size.
Turkish retail is dominated by discounters—three leading discount chains each operate over 13,000 stores, totaling approximately 40,000 discount locations. These aren’t Aldi or Lidl themselves (neither has Turkish presence), but local copycats. However, Turkish discount stores differ from US versions—they’re only 3,000-4,000 square feet, considerably smaller than American discount formats.
Shopping Behavior Differences
Turkish customers exhibit dramatically different shopping patterns than Americans. Basket sizes are smaller, shopping frequency is much higher, and monthly stock-up trips are uncommon. This behavioral difference fundamentally shapes retail strategy.
Quick commerce dominates in Turkey partly because Getir, a major quick commerce player, is a Turkish company. The format fits naturally with Turkish shopping habits of frequent, smaller purchases.
Migros Turkey: Multi-Banner, Multi-Format Powerhouse
Migros Turkey is the country’s second-largest grocer with $8.5 billion in annual revenue and 3,700 stores. The company operates as a true multi-banner network with formats ranging from 1,000 square feet neighborhood stores to 100,000 square feet hypermarkets (what Europeans call big box stores). Their portfolio includes food courts, a newly launched cosmetics chain, a pet chain, a dark kitchen business, a separate FinTech company, and retail media as a standalone business.
The most striking statistic: over 20% of Migros business comes from online—a penetration rate that significantly exceeds most US grocers. Each business unit operates as a separate company under a group CEO structure, with Mustafa leading the core retail operation.
The Reverse Takeover: When Digital Leads Traditional
Mustafa describes his career progression as a “reverse takeover”—typically, offline executives dominate retail businesses, but he rose from the digital/engineering side to CEO. This background fundamentally shapes how Migros approaches omnichannel strategy.
While Turkish discounters have virtually no online presence (it’s not in their DNA), Migros competes primarily with pure-play online competitors including Getir, Delivery Hero properties, and Alibaba (which owns Turkey’s largest marketplace). Amazon Turkey also operates in the market. Migros stands as the only brick-and-mortar retailer with significant online grocery business in Turkey.
The result: Migros designs everything from an omnichannel perspective by default. After 28 years in online grocery, omnichannel thinking is embedded in every decision.
Technology Investments: From ESL to AI to Warehouse Automation
The Past Three Years: Cost Optimization
Recent technology investments focused on cost optimization through in-store technologies like electronic shelf labels and self-service checkouts. Nearly one-third of Migros stores now feature self-checkout—including small formats where the company initially assumed the technology wouldn’t work. The labor savings proved worthwhile even in compact neighborhood stores, and customer engagement increased with better shopper experiences.
The Cultural Insight: Why Scan-and-Go Failed
Despite multiple attempts over many years, scan-and-go never gained traction at Migros. Mustafa spent considerable personal time on the initiative, but it consistently failed. Meanwhile, self-checkout succeeded dramatically—even customers in their 60s and 70s became fans.
His cultural insight: Turkish people believe shopping should be done with two free hands. Customers don’t want to hold mobile devices while shopping, which explains scan-and-go’s failure despite self-checkout’s success with the same demographic.
The Next Three to Four Years: AI and Automation
While Mustafa admits he’s not a fan of hype (he never watches popular movies or reads bestselling books when they’re trending), he sees AI as genuinely transformative. However, he believes computer vision and machine learning require significant work before rushing into generative AI. That said, GenAI represents another transformative opportunity.
Additional focus areas include automating fulfillment for online grocery (Migros has developed proprietary robotic solutions) and supply chain/warehouse automation.
FinTech: The Next Frontier
Mustafa identified financial technology as potentially the “next big thing”—something he doesn’t see much movement on in the US despite ongoing discussion. Migros is a shareholder in a digital-only bank in Turkey, and within six months, they plan to launch their financial services vertical as an online-only offering.
The services will include credit, deposits, and money transfers—a full-service financial vertical integrated with grocery retail. This represents a significant departure from typical US grocery-fintech partnerships, moving toward comprehensive financial services ownership.
The Bottom Line
Migros Turkey demonstrates how different market contexts create different retail solutions. While Turkish grocers face discount competition at unprecedented scale, smaller baskets, and higher shopping frequencies, Migros leverages its 28-year online grocery heritage and omnichannel-by-design approach to maintain relevance. From pioneering online grocery in 1997 to launching financial services in 2025, Mustafa’s journey illustrates that retail innovation often comes from understanding cultural nuances—like why customers want two free hands—rather than importing foreign concepts wholesale. US retailers watching quick commerce, fintech integration, and self-checkout adoption should pay attention to Turkey’s laboratory for testing what works when shopping behaviors differ fundamentally from American norms.
🎧 Want to hear the full conversation? Watch above or listen via your favorite podcasting platform:
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Be careful out there,
– Chris, Anne, and the Omni Talk team
Music by hooksounds.com
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Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.